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Scratch building a depot

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Posted by pennytrains on Sunday, February 18, 2024 1:16 PM

Gutter or ice dam?

I don't see any signs of downspouts in the prototype photo so I'm guessing this depot only had this device to stop snow and ice from avalanching on the passengers. But it seems also to have characteristics of an eaves trough, namely an end cap.

Any thoughts on how to model this thing?

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, February 17, 2024 8:59 PM

I've been wanting to make detailed near scale structures from scratch for years.  The Christmas layouts were fun while the Thai layout was a tribute piece, and of course Disneyland was totally unique.  But down in the basement I wanted to finish a Cleveland oriented layout.  It would have been pretty cool with the point of view being geared towards a seated person and they would be looking up at big bridges as though they were on a ship on the Cuyahoga River.

Right now I'm mostly interested in just focusing on a single location.  I've discovered over the years that the photos I've seen of small junctions and interchanges in more bucolic settings speak to me about railroading just as much if not more than big yards and terminals.  So, a quiet junction somewhere along the main line is what I decided will be the theme of the new layout.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Saturday, February 17, 2024 4:50 PM

Oh wow, I love the way that's coming together! 

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, February 17, 2024 1:31 PM

Notice the buckling of the tape after painting.  Hopefully it will be easy to flatten when it's dry.

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Posted by pennytrains on Friday, February 16, 2024 9:14 PM

I think I'm going to go with green rolled roofing.  I'll do some experiments but I read about using masking tape as the roofing material and I'm going to give it a try on scrap.  The masking tape I have leaves a lot to be desired so I'm not sure if it will even stick permanently let alone take the paint.

Basically I'm using a modified Nickel Plate paint scheme with a darker gray than what is considered "true NKP practice".  At least compared to what I've seen in the NKPHTS Modeller's Notebook issues I downloaded from NKPHTS.org.

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Posted by 8ntruck on Thursday, February 15, 2024 11:38 PM

Looks great!  Going to be cedar shingles?

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Posted by pennytrains on Thursday, February 15, 2024 6:29 PM

 

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Posted by 8ntruck on Tuesday, February 13, 2024 11:07 PM

Sure looks to me like you got it.  

You get the width of the sides of the bay windows for the bay windows from the top view, and the height of the edges of the bay windows from the side view of the end  of the building.

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Posted by pennytrains on Tuesday, February 13, 2024 5:55 PM

Well I THINK I got it Hmm

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Tuesday, February 13, 2024 2:44 PM

Looking at the prototype photo, you'll see that the bay window wall extends all the way to the roof on the end of the depot, but has a flat roof on the side that faces the track.

Since I'm not too great at the math, how do I calculate the length of a wall section that's protruding at a 45 degree angle away from the wall to a point that's at a lower height than the end that connects to the flat wall?

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Posted by pennytrains on Tuesday, February 13, 2024 1:31 PM

Plotting the bay window.

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Monday, February 12, 2024 6:24 PM

Another one of my favorite tools is a glue runner.  It has a strip inside that drops little dots on the paper and makes large area laminations fast and easy.

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Monday, February 12, 2024 12:36 PM

This is my paper cutter.  It's reasonably accurate but I still need to measure and draw the lines before I cut to make sure the blade actually goes in a straight line.

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Sunday, February 11, 2024 9:44 PM

After installing the doors I decided to go ahead and raise the building so now it's starting to look like something Wink

 

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Posted by 8ntruck on Friday, February 9, 2024 10:34 PM

Have you ever heard of a balsa stripper?  It is a tool to cut small stripes of balsa from a sheet.  I was using mine to make 1/32" square stringers for stick and tissue airplanes I used to build.

They are adjustable for cutting width and use an Xacto knife blade.  I'll bet it would be helpful for your current project.

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Posted by pennytrains on Friday, February 9, 2024 1:42 PM

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Friday, February 9, 2024 1:16 PM

The wall on top left faces the track.  The blank areas are for the bay window.  The next step is to measure, cut and install narrow strips of cardstock inside the window, door and transom openings.  The window panes and doors will be separate pieces.

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Posted by pennytrains on Thursday, February 8, 2024 2:16 PM

It looks good on the wainscoting but the blue gray siding looks better with a full coat of paint:

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Thursday, February 8, 2024 2:12 PM

Part of my problem is that I'm not 100% sold on the idea of weathering to begin with.  Considering the fact that I won't weather the trains I'm going to have to tread the thin line between reality and toy.  Wink. So elements of both worlds are necessary.

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Posted by 8ntruck on Wednesday, February 7, 2024 10:29 PM

The lighter color under the darker color might work better if you thinned the darker paint some.  The thinned darker color would not cover as well, maybe giving you the effect you are looking for.

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Posted by York1 on Wednesday, February 7, 2024 5:47 PM

Thanks for posting photos of your work!  Very neat!

York1 John       

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Posted by pennytrains on Wednesday, February 7, 2024 5:28 PM

The idea of painting a light color under the dark part and a dark shade under the white part was an attempt at creating grain texture and weathering.  It worked mildly well under the white wainscoting but on the main part of the walls it didn't help.

So I've moved on to the window trims.  The main trim pieces are 3 layers thick and the headers are 6 layers.

All measured and drawn individually of course.

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, February 3, 2024 9:59 PM

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, February 3, 2024 5:25 PM

When paper gets this thick it can be sanded, carved otherwise cleaned up using almost the same techniques you would use with balsa.

Of course I don't actually HAVE to remove my gluey fingerprints from the walls.  I could just say it's a new advanced weathering technique Wink

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, February 3, 2024 12:59 PM

The trim and paint should cover some imperfections Wink

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, February 3, 2024 12:45 PM

On to the wainscoting:

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Sunday, January 28, 2024 1:26 PM

I'm going to go ahead and call that part of the experiment a success.  It has the sawtooth profile I want but not high enough to cause a problem with the trim pieces that will go on top of the siding.

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Sunday, January 28, 2024 11:35 AM

Strips are 8 1/2" long so I only get 9 boards for this 3/4" wide wall.

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, January 27, 2024 8:57 PM

Cut, folded and ready for gluing, the fate of the project comes down to this pile of paper:

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, January 27, 2024 8:21 PM

After lightly scoring the fold lines, I used a straight edge as a bending brake and pinched the fold along the metal edge:

 

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