peterbunce
1880's Colorado Narrow gauge on 45mm track
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Hi,</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I have a new book of plans for Early Wooden American buildings, which is quite good. Naturally the plans are to HO scale, but that is easily dealt with, via the scanner.</font></p><p><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">One of them is for a ‘Western Union’ office. They ran the cable & telegraph etc system generally alongside the railroad tracks, so I though an office would be a useful building and it was small. A check revealed that it was not so small, so some minor adjustments were made so it would fit the (part) slab I intended to use under it, and the scanner was brought into use. </font></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">A riffle through my window jigs found the right one, and the windows were made first as usual. That gave me the size for cutting the holes in the wall, these are made from the usual 5mm PVC solid foam, the walls were scored with an Olfa cutter (pushed – if you draw it down it will rip the surface) to replicate the vertical planks. Then the walls are joined together at the corners and internally stiffened, using my usual glue Evo-stik. The foundation is from 3mm sheet overlaid with some Slater’s 7mm stone design plasticard.</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The roof which is intended to look like roofing felt is made from 2mm thick plasticard, again with some stiffeners and internal roof ridge from PVC strip that I have from a window fitting job, it is very nice to plane the upward facing ‘V’ on using a small plane, for the ridge. Paper strips are added to indicate the joins, not forgetting some horizontal ones, there are pieces also at the ends of the roof, these are added aftyer ther baergeboards have been fitted. Notwithstanding the stiffness of the roof, which has a scale 12” overhang seems a bit weak, so I fitted a set of rafter ends to both sides from scrap. </font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The large roof sign is made from 1.5mm plasticard sheet with a double frame to protect the edges, and then I added some three part fixing pieces on the lower edge, and worked out the four top braces, also from 1.5mm sheet. These have some extra (scrap) fixing blocks added to the roof, and after painting the roof can be fixed. </font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The main colour is B&Q masonry paint ‘sand’ from a tester pot, with red oxide for the trim color. The door is built in situ, the roof is also a B&Q tester pot color called ‘soot’ a very unusual color as it looks ion the pot like a dark red oxide, but dries almost black. When all is dry I added some plank joins with a pencils (don’t forget the nail holes) and varnished it all.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The two stovepipes were added, made from plastic straws (to add strength to the double them inside with another straw, slit lengthwise and a thin layer of glue to hold the layers together and pushed inside), the main one has a top from the end of a sealant cartridge tube: the bent one (supposedly in the kitchen) from a bendy straw. Both need a plate to protect the roof and wall – these are made from 15 thou plasticard, impress the fixing screws from the back. </font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">On the internasl photo it can be seen that I have added an internal bracing piece to keep the larger stovepipe still, in addition to the two (.8mm) brass wire external wires. The little deflector cone at roof level is a fiddle! Made in 15 thou plasticard, to a ’washer’ shape and pulled further together then re cut the centre hole; glue it down on the plate and fill any gaps with a smear of glue. The correct name for this shape is a ‘frustum’ of a cone (made more difficult by the base being on a slope) and there is somewhere on the web a formula for making them, I just work out a couple of circles on a piece of paper, and fiddle to I get it about right! </font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The sign is a ‘prototype’ design, run off on the computer for size etc, and will be in red. There is a bit of a wave in the present (paper) version which can be ignored.</font></p><p><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Here are a small set of photos that befit what is really a very small, and utilitarian office type building. I will add a pole by the side of it, but the rest of the wires, allegedly to the rest of the world will stay missing – I can easily see that my big feet, and or the various animals in the garden will soon snag them!</font></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">However I have a small and fat 'Banker' figure, so I will have to add a small green eyeshaded figure as well, then the pair of them can be put outside the building talking about 'something or other', that needs the new technology (of 1880) to be used.<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana"> </span></font><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana"> </span></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana">Yours Peter.</span></font><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana"> <p> </p></span></font><p> </p><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><p><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></p></font></font></font>
Like the small details like the nails in the planking very nice :applause: