O Scale Trains Magazine Online

2
Sill plates of HO 6” x 22” were CA’d on top of the foundations.
Side sills of 1/16” x 3/16” dimensional lumber were added
next making a 30’ x 40’ box for the main building and an adjacent
24’ x 14’ box for the boiler house on top of the sill plates.
With these set in place, floor joists of 1/16” x 3/16” dimensional
lumber were inserted between the side sills, spaced at two feet
on center running north-south. With the supports for the floor
complete, both areas were floored over with 1/16” thick Northeastern
Scale Lumber scribed siding (3/32” spacing) and secured
with CA (Photo 1).
The Front Porch
The “front porch” was started with a frame of 1/16” x 5/32”
dimensional lumber, essentially a 40’ x 8’ box with a 1/16” x
5/32” center joist that was then decked over with individual HO
3” x 12” boards. Support posts for the porch were made from
HO 8” x 10” cut to bring the surface of porch flush with the
level of the flooring of the main building. These were applied
to the perimeter away from the main building. Diagonal bracing
was added, tying the porch legs together, which were fashioned
from HO 3” x 12”. The ramp (3-3/4’ x 13’) was fashioned from
the same framing and decking materials and the angles at each
end were sanded to fit. The ramp was secured with a combination
of CA and Walthers Goo. The exterior framing of the porch
was dressed up with Grandt Line #23 nut-bolt-washer (nbw)
castings. The deck entire assembly was then attached to the
south facing side sill of the main building with CA.
Building the First Floor
The first floor walls of the main building were constructed
board-by-board as sub-units, and the four finished walls were
then assembled to enclose the first floor. I had initially planned
to use commercial clapboard siding, but this building material
was quickly abandoned as the wall thickness seemed to be too
thick. Normally, this might not be a consideration but, since I
intended for this structure to have a fully detailed and accessible
interior, the scribed siding would not be accurate and the walls
needed to be dimensionally acceptable to the eye.
All four of these pre-assembled wall units were assembled
as 2 x 4 stud walls, with 7¾’ long studs spaced on two-foot
centers, and a 4 x 4 on each end (Figure 2, Page 44). Doubling
of the studs below the support for each window, and to support
the header over each window was included in all walls as needed.
The North wall was 40’ long and the studs were “adjusted”
to accept four Grandt Line #5031 windows. The South wall was
also 40’ long and had the framing set to accept a #5031 window
and three Grandt Line #4040 freight doors as depicted in Photo
2. The East wall is a 29½’ long wall unit that fit in between the
North and South walls. There was one large window in the center
of the wall that was made from two #3702 windows merged
together. The West wall is also a 29½’ wall unit that also fits in
between the North and South walls. There was one opening for
a modified Grandt Line #3604 door that was cut down slightly
to the size of the door framing. There were also two 4 x 4s set
into the framing to provide a surface to tie this wall into the
North and South boiler house walls. An additional 2 x 4, next to
these 4 x 4s, provides an attachment surface for clapboard siding
(Figure 2 and Photo 2).
I intended to have a full-interior detailed structure, so finishing
the interior walls for at least the first floor was necessary.
The intent was to add “plaster” to these walls. To accomplish
this, all four wall units for the first floor interior framing were
given a very quick application of CA and a sheet of 0.005” clear
Evergreen styrene was attached. Then, the assembly was laid
flat on the glass, under a board with a lead weight, until the glue
set. After the glue was well set, the excess styrene was trimmed
off with a sharp scalpel to meet the wall dimensions, and the
window and door openings were cut out (Photo 3).
Next, I installed all of the interior window and door opening
trim. The South wall doorways were finished with HO 1” x
10” and the single window frame with HO 2 x 6. The West wall
large window opening was trimmed out with HO 1” x 10” and
the joint where the window castings were modified was filled
with matching lumber. The North wall window openings were
finished with HO 2 x 6. With this phase completed, all of these
interiors were then brush painted with two coats of Polly S Aged
White to simulate an old finished plaster interior (Photo 3).
The exterior of the four first floor wall units was finished in
individual clapboards. This method created realistically thick
walls. An HO 2 x 8 kick-out board was glued at the base of
the walls and clapboards of HO 1” x 16”, no more than 12’ in
length, were used with staggered joints. The ends of the individual
clapboards on the East and West walls were left approximately
nine inches long to provide material for forming an
appropriate overlap where the ends of these walls would join to
the 4 x 4s of the North and South walls. The openings for all of
the windows and doors were very carefully trimmed and each
window or door casting was test fit in place prior to assembly of
the first floor walls as a unit (Photo 3).
The first floor walls were then assembled onto the floor First,
carefully glue (CA) the North and South walls to the edges of
their respective location on the floor. Make sure to set these as
close to 90° to the floor and parallel to each other 29-1/2’ apart.
The East and West walls were then carefully glued (CA) to the
floor, and inserted in between the North and South walls. Glue
was added on their ends to contact the 4 x 4 ends of the North
and South walls. The excess overlapping clapboards were then
very carefully trimmed off with a brand new scalpel blade.
3
July/Aug ’06 - O Scale Trains • 41