Page 27 - NMRA Roundhouse September-October 2019

platform boards have a 12 scale inch overhang. I cut new posts form 6x8 Evergreen strip styrene and glued them to the plain sides.The posts are spaced on eight-foot centers.Then the sides are boarded up horizontally with 1x6 strips. Along the upper edge, I attached 6x8 strip styrene as bumpers. On the rear edge of the platform, I installed a small stairway leading up to the office door.
I used bits of Evergreen stairs and 4x4 strips for the posts. Now the platform has the correct height for the reefer doors and truck beds.
A completely new scratch-built shed would probably have been easier. How- ever, because I wanted to use most of the kit parts, I decided to keep the walls. The window and door castings on the model are a bit tiny compared to an
HO figure.This is a common practice on many models to compress the size of an otherwise bigger structure and ranges it either in the 1/100 scale than HO. I used Grandt Line door and window castings to enlarge the openings in the walls.The model walls are board and batten siding on the lower, and clapboard siding on the upper part. I used the model walls as a guide to glue the Evergreen corrugated siding in place, overlapping the upper sheets. After the glue had dried, I cut the openings from the backside and sanded the edges until the castings fit. I planned to add interior and exterior lighting. Using the plans from the MR article, I framed off an office. On the model, there is a second loading door where the pro- totype had another office and lavatory, so I had to modify the interior arrange- ment accordingly. In addition, there is a
door leading to the covered platform, where on the prototype there was none. I kept this door because it makes access to the platform more convincing.Then
I assembled the walls following the kit instructions. I had to sand the edges of the walls to make a snug fit.To hide the seams I added corner trim using Ever- green angle stock.The corrugated siding glued on top of the original kit walls made them thicker, so I had to shorten the roof rafters accordingly.This seems to be an older kit and making everything to fit makes some sanding and tweaking necessary.This is especially true for the bent legs to meet the platform when the roof is in place. I used styrene channel to act as reinforcements and attachments of the bents to the platform floor.To po- sition them correctly, I installed a piece of brass wire into the legs and drilled holes into the platform floor to insert the wire.This makes removing and repo- sitioning the roof easier when I need to replace an interior light.
After the walls were assembled and the roof and bents adjusted for removal, I installed the inner walls for the office and storage area.The office walls are installed using pieces of scribed siding to represent plain boards.To avoid seeing through the packing shed I placed one separation wall diagonally across the shed. Crates and boxes will block the view also.Then I took measurements for the inner roof halves and cut them from .020 scribed siding.
For the interior lights, I installed sunny white SMD’s. I drilled a small hole in the roof and threaded the wires through. On the internet, I purchased cheap wall mounted and hanging lights from China. They have a brass arm and shade with an SMD light, rated at 3 Volts DC and
20 mAmps. I drilled a hole above the office door and installed a wall mounted light. On the middle bent of the load- ing platform, I installed a hanging light. I drilled a hole into the bent and threaded the wires through.They are connected to the other light wires under the roof. The SMD’s like LED’s need an 800 to 1000 Ohm resistor soldered to the positive (+) lead, to be powered with 12 Volts. My structure will be on a module, so I decided to power all the lights with a three Volt power supply.The SMD’s come pre-wired, which saved me from soldering and probably burning these tiny lights.The longer wire is the positive (+) pole and on the brass lights, it is
the red lead. For each pole, I soldered
the leads together and ran two wires down through the structure floor. I will connect these feeder wires to my power bus.There will be a depot and several streetlights on the module as well, which will be connected to this power bus also.
I painted the structure, including the roof, medium grey.After the paint had dried, I applied a wash of Rust-All. I also added some more rust spots and streaks using PanPastel and weathering powders. The loading platform received a coat of tan color. I weathered the platform with different washes of grey and black paint. Dry pigments and PanPastels were used to dull the shine down.
The signage consists of the growers’ name and I printed it on my computer. I tried to achieve the closest match with the prototype, but this is not critical. I coated the printout with matte varnish (Dull Cote).After the varnish had dried, I cut the sign out and glued it to a piece of .010” styrene sheet. I fixed the sign on the narrow wall above the window. Some rust streaks and dust completed the shed. Now I only need to install it on the module.
This was a fun build and shows that with some imagination and kit bashing, you can get close to the prototype.
Alain Kap MMR
September/October 2019 - ROUNDHOUSE 27