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Comments
In order to add the second floor I needed to add a header along the back wall to support the floor joists.
In order to add strength to the header lag bolts were added at each end to secure the header to the framing timbers (I know that they will probably not be seen when the model is completed, but I will know that they are there and be secure in the knowledge that the headed will not be separating from the timbers any time soon).
Once the header was secure the floor joists were added. I was going to go with 24” spacing for the floor joists but visually they looked too far apart so I went with 16” centers.
1” x 10” floor boards were added to the joists to complete the floor.
An overhead view of the second floor.
Once the floor was done it was time to construct the walls for the office. I made drawings of the walls, taped them down to the desk, tape wax paper in top of the plans and use plans as a template for construction the walls.
The completed framing for the office walls.
The interior of the wall sheathed and painted. Mr. Lyon decided to spend a little money to paint the inside walls of the office.
The framing added for the office window that will be looking our into the tractor repair area.
The completed window with the glazing added. To make the window I first glued 1” x 2” strips to the outside of the window frame, added the glazing and then added 1” x 2” strips to the inside of the glazing.
The walls of the office glued together.
An interior view of the office.
The office glued in place and a railing added. The railing is made from 2”x 4” posts and top tail with a 1” x 3” middle rail. This assembly was given three coats of A/I wash to give it a used look.
Another view of the office and railing, the gap in the railing to the right will be where the stairs will go. Before I can build the staircase I will need to plant the building and build the floor to the car repair side of the building.
In order to continue I need to “Plant” the building. In order to “plant” the building I needed to lay the track. So…….
I started by cutting my own low profile ties. I want to burry the track into the surrounding landscape so the lower the ties, the less scenery material required to bury them. The wider ties are where the car shop will be. The ties will act as a keystone to lock the building in place. I stained the ties that will be exposed and hand laid code 70 rail. I also took the time to add feeders to the track as I will be part of my layout when completed.
Next came the planking for the car shop floor, the only area that will have a floor. The tractor repair area will have a packed dirt floor. The reasoning behind this is that the weight of the tractors and the metal treads would chew up a wood floor. The option is a concrete floor but why spend the extra money for a concrete floor in a remote area.
The building temporary planted.
Another view of the car shop floor.
Next up the stairway.
I’m curious as to where the office stairs will be placed.
Kaz, nice to hear from you buddy. As for the stairs, rather than try to explain myself, or com up with some convoluted story, I thought it best to just show you.
I thought a stairway with a landing would be more interesting that just a straight stairway from the second floor. And just to prove that I can still get a full size On30 boxcar in the building.......
Still need to add bracing and handrails and then do some staining. I think I better start painting some details next.
There should be enough room for the tractors to easily avoid the supports and I plan to store junk around the supports to discourage going near the supports. I'm in the process of assembling on of the tractors now to make sure there is plenty of clearance. Until I'm 95% certain the stairs will not be attached to allow for any fine tuning that may be required.
Time for another update.....
I decided to start painting some of the larger castings at this time and see where they would go in the building. At this point they are painted but need to be weathered.
While waiting for the paint to dry I started on the walls for the lumber storage shed. This is basically a 10' x 20' structure.
The sheathing added, as you can see wear, tear and the weather has taken its toil. More weathering needs to be added at this point.
The walls glued together and the roof joists added
A view from the rear, as you can see the adding and renoving of the lumber has really taking it's toil on the back wall. The boys are presently looking around the shop and grounds for something to patch the big hole in the back wall.
Here is an overhead view on where the lumber shed will be going on the diorama in relation to the main building.
A view from the front.
A view from the side.
Now the bad news, unfortunately the diorama will not be ready not the convention, due to lack of material and no local source for said material. I'm finding out big time that O scale buildings go through a huge amount of lumber. The guilty party this time is the lack of 2" x 8" required to make the 32 trusses required for the roof.
Rather than fudge them of substitute the material with something else that I know I wont be happy with , I decided to face the disappointment and not produce something I won't be happy with. I will continue to work on it and post updates up until the convention (and after)
I have been asked to bring it to the convention anyway and I plan to do so. Don't know where I'll display it but as soon as I figure something else, I'll let you know so if your going to the convention and want to see it, I'll be more that happy to show it to you.
Since the narrow gauge convention i did manage to get a bit done on the build so let's do some catching up.
In order to do the roof I needed to make some rafters. When I have to make more that one item I like to make a jig to ensure the parts end up being the same. Here is the first layer of the truss for the railcar side of the building.
The cross pieces added
The third layer added.
The finished truss.
A pile of trusses.
In order to space the trusses I made another jig to space the trusses every 4 feet (did I mention I like to make jigs).
The trusses in place on the building with some of the strapping added to keep everything square. I needed to do this in order to lay out the trusses for the tractor side of the shed.
The trusses added over the tractor side of the shed with the strapping installed to tie it into the railcar trusses.
Adding the first layer of the roof.
The first layer complete on one side of the railcar aresa.
The other side of the railcar roof completed and the tractor side started. At this time I came to the realization that I was not going to have enough boards to finish the rood so it was off to make some more boards and stain them.
The roof removed.
The underside of the roof.
The completed roof. The new boards didn't stain the same and I believe that was because the stain looses its strength after the first time wood is stained in it. I have a feeling that the pigments from the stain leaches into the wood leaving a weakened concentration after the first batch of wood is stained. By mixing up the boards it all blends together. I finished the first layer of roofing this morning before work. Next up is adding the battens.
I also found time to finish the stairway.
Nice trusses might have to do that on the machine shop I'm working on. Wish you would have had it done for CSC2011 show.
It would have given us something to talk about while waiting for a drink!!!!
Jerry
Jerry, The plan was to have it done for CSC but work dictated otherwise. I finished worked at 10:00 PM on Monday and was up at 6:00AM on Tuesday to go to the show. The build might not have been finished, but I wasn't going to miss the show.
Here is where I left off.....
To fill the gaping hole in the back I cut a couple pieces of corrugated iron painted it grey and then weathered it. I also added some nailer strips to nail the corrugated roofing to.
A "three-quarter" view
I made some lumber piles that will go inside the shed. I made these with scrap lengths of stripwood I had lying around. I wasn't worried about exact scale sizes, just wanted something that looks good.
A view with the wood piles temporary in place in the wood shed.
Worked some more on the shed.
To start I painted the corrugated material with a grey primer. Once it was dry it was cut into 36" x 96" sheets. to start the weathering process rust coloured oil pastels was added to the top of the corrugations.
Seeing as I'm in my "experimenting with ink" phase this was the ink I used to further the weathering process.
Here we are with the inks applied, still a little harsh, but the next step will fix that.
Dark and medium rust Bragdon powders were scrubbed onto the roof to blend it all together.
Next up is to "plant the building.......
In order to do that I decided it would be better to add the basic scenery before the building was planted as it would be much harder, in fact darn near impossible to get the ground in all the nooks and crannies later (been there, done that, not fun). I weathered two sleepers with a couple of coats of A/I and glued them to the base. These would keep the lumber "off the ground". The ground cover is a sand mixture that makes a great scenery base.
The wood piles glued to the sleepers.
The wood shed planted with all the lumber glued in place.
Now that the wood shed was done I had no choice but to go back to working on the main building.
The roof completed on one side of the car building section. The corrugated pieces were left overs from the wood shed. They were "rested" in the same manner as the wood shed roof.
The other side of the car repair shed. Just need to finish the tractor side roof.