A yard office

I was inspired by a model on George Sellios' FSM Railroad of an old boxcar made into a yard office.  I had to hand a very old boxcar that I'd scratchbuilt from Evergreen siding and Grandt Line fittings that never got to riding on trucks. I so dislike working on rolling stock that I'm committed to buying all mine in future. So...

I took off the roof and doors and levered out the lead weights glued to the floor. During this process the doorway I'd opened up got damaged as the plastic is a bit brittle. No worries it was a bad-order car that the railroad had converted so a few repairs were in order.

As the interior was going to be lit, I made some bookshelves from strip and card with printed books on etc and dug out some old plastic furniture mouldings to go inside.

I built a lean to at the back,(which will never be seen on the railroad sadly) from evergreen siding and the windows from an old Bachman Brill trolley body I'd had lying around for years.

First interior layout

Empty that basket!

Loafing Len

This side can't be seen from the layout edge. Shame I like those windows!

In location

Dug in but still wet

A small pond

To liven up a little corner I decided to put in a pond. First I excavated it with a chisel then painted the bottom and poured on thick gloss medium. Two coats ended up shiny and lumpy so I cut out a piece of thin acrylic glazing to fit, sprayed a very thin mist of black on the underside and glued it on top. Made up the banks and it's looking OK.  More reeds needed but the mule appreciates it.  

My Flatiron building gets a name and a purpose

That front gable suggested to me a chapel, reminiscent as it is of many still standing in Cornwall and Wales. So it's now St. Piran's Chapel & Institute. St Piran is the patron saint of Cornish tin miners and many "Cousin Jacks" found their way to the hard rock mines of Colorado when world tin prices collapsed.  Here's the finished article.  The signs took almost as long to make as the rest of the structure.

St Piran's Chapel & Institute

The structure has acquired signage, drainpipe and a chimney.

Roof detail added

An access door and a little clutter. Maybe someone will repair the tarpaper that's come adrift?

Settling in

"Flatiron" building. 2

I painted the stucco with a spray of camouflge and when dry I used a spray glue on the back of the "stucco" card overlay to attach it to the wall. Serendipitously I was heavy handed with it and there was some bleed through to the front which gives added ageing - an unexpected bonus. I sealed again with Dullcote. Only this wall will be stucco.

I'm pretty pleased with this so far.

Assembly and alterations

Walls tacked together. This was fun due to the angles chamfered on wall edges

Walls glued and styrene tubes glued into corners for strength

I fitted a gable roof of card but wasn't happy with it. It didn't look "American" so decided to run with a flat roof and no rear gable. I sawed off the rear gable, turned it round and glued it to the back of the front one then added a flat roof of balsa.

Gaps filled with melted styrene shavings

Balsa roof added

Walls capped with cornice stones made from stripwood with sawn joints, covered with glue and bi-carb then painted

Walls painted

Where it will live at the bottom of Hill  Street 

Rear timber gallery. I pinched this idea from George Sellios. The windows are still setting at this time.

I still have roof and wall detailing to finish before placing it on the layout 

"Flatiron" building.

I have a flatiron shaped, empty site at the bottom of Hill Street that needs a structure.  The gift of some beautiful resin cut stone walling from a friend set me thinking.  I'm going to use it for this structure. One issue was going to be accurately fitting all the windows and doors so I came up with the idea of making a "stucco" card overlay for the front wall. It will be interesting to see how that works out.

Wall blank with cut-out front wall plan overlaid as a paint mask

Gable sawn and openings painted

Openings cut out, the right side was an experiment. Easier to cut out but weakened the front too much

I used the overlay to draw the plan onto thin card which I cut out, peeled and added broken stucco areas.  I painted lightly with white glue then sifted on bi-carb for texture. I then sealed it with Dullcote

Areas marked out for paint.

Base coat

Coloured

Stucco card showing broken areas