O Scale Trains Magazine Online

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together to assemble a single unit. All of these castings were
painted with Polly S Aged White, glazed with microscope cover
slip glass cut with a diamond tip scribe, and installed right after
the exterior sheathing was completed (since later access would
be limited).
The exterior of the boiler house walls were finished off with
board-and-batten siding made from individual HO scale 1” x
24” and 2 x 4 boards that extended down over the side sills
prior to the walls being mounted on the flooring of the boiler
house. An “interior” portion of the East wall, exposed inside of
the slatted exterior trellis wall, was also finished off with this
same board-and-batten sheathing. An HO 8” x 12” was added
to the end of this wall for the header of the trellis part of the slatted
exterior wall to rest on (Photo 8).
Installation of these three walls for the boiler house was done
starting with the North wall. It was first secured to the floor and
to the anchoring 4 x 4 of the main building East wall with CA.
The West wall was then installed, secured to the floor and to
the North boiler house wall, being careful to keep it square and
plumb while running out to the end of that foundation extension.
The South boiler house wall was then slid in between
the East wall of the main building and the previously secured
East wall of the boiler house, and glued in place with CA. The
exposed southern end post of the East wall was doubled on the
interior side of the East wall with scrap wood. This brings the
thickness of this post up to nearly the width of the foundation.
The addition to that post provides the tie-in of the exterior trellis
wall and support beam for the rafters of the boiler house.
Lattice Exterior Wall
The uprights/supports for the lattice/trellis exterior wall were
made from HO 8” x 12” wood, spaced equidistant between
the boiler house East wall and the free end of the lattice wall.
Note that the lattice wall comes adjacent, but actually does not
directly attach to the East wall of the main building. An HO 4’ x
12” beam extends from the end support post of the East boiler
house wall and rests on these supports. This beam then provides
support for the rafters. The lattice or trellis boards were
made from HO 3” x 10” lumber. The east ends of the trellis
boards extend to attach to the HO 8” x 12” end-post of the boiler
house East wall. The joints of these boards were dressed up
with Grandt Line #1 nbw’s. The ceiling, over the area extending
from the South wall to the lattice/trellis header, was closed in
with scrap 1/32” thick Northeastern 3/32” spaced scribed siding
(Photo 9 and Figure 5 on page 46).
Boiler House Rafters
The roof rafters were made from 1/16” x 5/32” dimensional
lumber. They are quite simple, with the two roof rafters resting
on a single center support up from the traversal beam (Figure
6 on Page 46). These were set to match the spacing of the lattice/trellis
supports, then additional rafters were added equidistant
between those. The far western rafter was not attached to
the main building. Instead, the roofing later ties this structure
into the siding of the main building with flashing. I’ll cover the
roofing issues in Part 2. Soffit boards were inserted between
the rafters (1/16” x 3/16” scrap dimensional lumber). A chimney
platform was made from 1/32” scrap, spanning two rafters near
the main building. The chimney was built up on this platform,
well above the rafters and capped with additional Dr. Ben’s
building blocks. Stone steps at each door of the boiler house
were also built from Dr. Ben’s building blocks.
Roofing
The boiler house roof was gap-sheathed with HO 1” x 24”
material for a metal roof. I’ll return to how the entire building
was roofed with metal standing-seam roofing material later, as
all the roof sheathing and finishing was done as a unit.
The First Floor Interior
The interior of the first floor was fitted out at this point, as
later access would be limited. Berkshire Valley supplied the
desk, file cabinets, books, chairs, stove, coal bin, shelving
unit, buckets, and barrels. The interior also features a modified
Grandt Line door between the two buildings, the two cucumber
washing, sorting, and preparation troughs, and the “elevator” to
take barrels upstairs (Photo 10). The large washing basins were
built from sheet copper formed and soldered into shape, then
“wrapped” in 1/32” dimensional lumber with HO 6” x 12” legs
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continued on page 45
July/Aug ’06 - O Scale Trains • 43