In the process of planning for a new corner diorama for my layout I decided that I needed a scratch-built shipping and receiving dock structure along the siding that will enter the complex. In my research I looked at pictures of the great layouts of George Sellios and Cliff Powers for ideas. I narrowed it down to about six different types of structures before deciding on the one that I liked for my project.
Here's the one I decided to copy. It's from Cliff Powers layout. I liked the open feeling of the structure and the fact that it is accessible from the front and the back, which will be necessary for my project.
Cliff Powers loading dock.jpg
As with all of my scratch builds, I started out with a scale drawing of the footprint of the structure. Using the scale figure in Cliff's build which I took to be about 6 feet tall, I estimated that the structure would be about 13 feet tall, close to 30 feet long and about 20 feet deep.
For the floor I used some balsa wood strips that I had on hand. They are about 3/4 inch wide and I cut them to a 6 inch length.
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Next I taped them to my drawing. I then made pencil marks at each end of about 1 scale foot width to make it look like the floor boards were 2x12's. I then used my #11 blade and scored the strips of balsa wood.
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Next I laid out floor joists on about 2 scale foot centers. I know in real life they would be on 16 inch centers, but for modeling purposes the 2 foot centers look right to me. I used 4x6 stripwood for the joists.
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Here's a look at the deck surface after removing it from the drawing paper.
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That's it for now, more later.
You're off to a good start. Two foot centers are easier to work with in the modeling world and no one will ever know the difference.
George
Nice work Jeff. I think the 2' will be fine.
Jerry
Nice one!
Howdy Jeff,
I really like open warehouses with a dock. You've picked a nice one to copy. Your technique for wall studs is neat. This is going to be a fun build to watch. Good luck.
Have fun,
mike
A nice structure to copy.
I'll be here to follow along.
Quote from: GeorgeD on May 28, 2025, 11:52:16 AMYou're off to a good start. Two foot centers are easier to work with in the modeling world and no one will ever know the difference.
George
Hello George, thanks for looking in and for the nice comments
Quote from: Jerry on May 28, 2025, 04:42:24 PMNice work Jeff. I think the 2' will be fine.
Jerry
Hello Jerry, I appreciate you taking the time to stop by. I've been using the 2 foot on center thing for a while and I think that it looks just fine.
Quote from: Philip on May 28, 2025, 06:00:58 PMNice one!
Hello Philip, thank you sir
Quote from: friscomike on May 28, 2025, 06:21:19 PMHowdy Jeff,
I really like open warehouses with a dock. You've picked a nice one to copy. Your technique for wall studs is neat. This is going to be a fun build to watch. Good luck.
Have fun,
mike
Hello Mike, I feel like you can never go wrong using the great Cliff Powers work as a guide. His ideas are all over my layout.
Quote from: Rick on May 28, 2025, 07:22:14 PMA nice structure to copy.
I'll be here to follow along.
Hello Rick, as I said just above, Cliff's work is always useful to use as a guide for a nice looking and interesting structure.
Continuing on...
Next, it's time to get the dock deck up off the ground. My planned diorama will be on a homosote base, so I set up some cork roadbed and track to figure out how high the deck should be next to an incoming boxcar. I cut some 3/32 strip-wood to the proper length and then glued the posts onto the bottom of the deck. As you can see I also glued three long pieces of strip-wood to the floor joists to solidify everything and to give me more gluing surface for the posts.
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I then glued some cross bracing between the posts.
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I made another drawing for the front wall of the structure and started piecing together the wall. I used some left over pieces of the balsa wood that I used for the deck floor for the upper wall covering.
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Here's a look at the completed front wall.
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The side walls have a small slope since I plan on a shed style roof for the structure. I still have to trim the balsa wood pieces to match the slope that you can see from the diagonal line in my drawing.
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That's enough for today.
Quote from: nycjeff on May 28, 2025, 10:05:12 AMNext I laid out floor joists on about 2 scale foot centers. I know in real life they would be on 16 inch centers, but for modeling purposes the 2 foot centers look right to me. I used 4x6 stripwood for the joists.
As others have already inputted, 2' OC looks absolutely fine to this almost retired carpenter.
So does the rest of your build, I am following along as scratch-builds are my favorite thread, thank you for sharing.
FWIW, I have done a lot of 1:1 carpentry over my years, some of it on old and/or rural structures. The 16" OC "standard" really came about with the popularity of 4 X 8 sheet goods, and nominal 2X framing lumber. As most know, "nominal sizing" means a 2 X 4 no longer measures an actual 2" by 4" anymore, nor is a 2 x 12 really 12" deep, etc.
Loads of buildings were and are constructed with framing spacing larger than 16" OC, especially non-residential structures. So much depends on what goes on top of the joists or rafters.
Looking good
Jeff,
Looking good.
Tom
Quote from: IWannaRetire on May 29, 2025, 06:52:54 PMQuote from: nycjeff on May 28, 2025, 10:05:12 AMNext I laid out floor joists on about 2 scale foot centers. I know in real life they would be on 16 inch centers, but for modeling purposes the 2 foot centers look right to me. I used 4x6 stripwood for the joists.
As others have already inputted, 2' OC looks absolutely fine to this almost retired carpenter.
So does the rest of your build, I am following along as scratch-builds are my favorite thread, thank you for sharing.
FWIW, I have done a lot of 1:1 carpentry over my years, some of it on old and/or rural structures. The 16" OC "standard" really came about with the popularity of 4 X 8 sheet goods, and nominal 2X framing lumber. As most know, "nominal sizing" means a 2 X 4 no longer measures an actual 2" by 4" anymore, nor is a 2 x 12 really 12" deep, etc.
Loads of buildings were and are constructed with framing spacing larger than 16" OC, especially non-residential structures. So much depends on what goes on top of the joists or rafters.
Hello Mark, thanks for looking in and for the real life info. I know that we all want our models to accurately reflect the real world, but many times I apply the "good enough" method. And I can always fall back on Rule #1 if some people don't like it.
Quote from: KentuckySouthern on May 29, 2025, 09:18:50 PMLooking good
Quote from: ACL1504 on May 30, 2025, 08:14:20 AMJeff,
Looking good.
Tom
Thank you guys, I appreciate you taking the time to comment. It's always nice to know that someone is looking in.
All of the walls have been glued to the base deck, it's starting to look like something now. The deck base is level with the floor of the boxcar when it is placed next to the track.
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At this point I have stained everything with my A&I solution. An area of the floor decking material warped up after the stain was brushed on so I had to apply a little glue on the bottom and put some weights on it to settle everything back to where it belonged.
The edges of the deck boards have really come into focus after the stain was applied. My experiment of using the balsa wood sheets and then scribing board edges on them worked out well. I'm pleased with the results.
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Next I cut a piece of cardboard for the roof and painted the edges with a dark brown color. I'm thinking about adding some more cross bracing between the support posts on the bottom and also adding some rafter tails on the roof edges. We'll see.
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I dry brushed the upper wall covering material with a light green color and started adding some detail castings on the deck floor. As a tip of the hat to Cliff Powers, I added a figure standing at the front middle of the deck just as he did on his fine model.
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The roof is just black construction paper cut into 3/8 wide strips and then glued on with full strength wood glue. I added a few patched areas and then applied some chalks to begin the weathering process.
There will be some more roof details and roof signage added when the deck becomes part of my diorama.
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That's it for now, more later.
Looking good, Jeff.
Yes - it all depends on the thickness and type of timber used for decking. In our last house 1 1/2" thick hardwood was used and the joists were spaced at 2' 8" centres. It wasn't at all springy to walk on. Of course 'use' would also come into the equation. If you were expecting delivery of large woodworking machinery then you would need something more substantial.
I like the different pattern used on the cross braces along the front of the deck, but must point out that two of those posts are not braced. Of course, you can apply a rule here.
Cheers, Mark.
Howdy Jeff, the open warehouse looks amazing. It is sturdy enough to hold those 321 blocks. Have fun, mike
Jeff, I think it looks fantastic.
How did you cut the roof strips to give them that rough edge?
Very nice...Relatively simple and versatile...those little see-through structures really make a nice "complexity" to your foreground. Well done
John
Quote from: Mark Dalrymple on May 30, 2025, 03:43:53 PMLooking good, Jeff.
Yes - it all depends on the thickness and type of timber used for decking. In our last house 1 1/2" thick hardwood was used and the joists were spaced at 2' 8" centres. It wasn't at all springy to walk on. Of course 'use' would also come into the equation. If you were expecting delivery of large woodworking machinery then you would need something more substantial.
I like the different pattern used on the cross braces along the front of the deck, but must point out that two of those posts are not braced. Of course, you can apply a rule here.
Cheers, Mark.
Hello Mark, thanks for looking in and for your insights. You are right about the cross bracing, I do plan on adding more. I just stopped at this point because I was getting tired of measuring and gluing all of those little pieces. Better to stop and come back with a fresh attitude.
Quote from: friscomike on May 30, 2025, 06:28:33 PMHowdy Jeff, the open warehouse looks amazing. It is sturdy enough to hold those 321 blocks. Have fun, mike
Hello Mike, thanks for the kind words. Sometimes I'm amazed at the strength of our little wood structures that are just small bits of wood glued together as well.
Quote from: Rick on May 30, 2025, 06:44:22 PMJeff, I think it looks fantastic.
How did you cut the roof strips to give them that rough edge?
Hello Rick, thanks for looking in.
I've used two methods for attaining the rough edge of the roofing material.
First is one I learned from a Jason Jenson video. After cutting the paper into 3/8 inch strips, place the paper on the edge of a piece of wood and use a small piece of sandpaper to lightly brush the edge of the paper.
Second is to glue the paper strips on the roof and then use a small piece of sandpaper and lightly brush the whole roof area in both a top to bottom and then a bottom to top motion. Go slowly and check after each pass- it's easy to do more damage than you might want.
Hope this helps you.
Quote from: cuse on May 31, 2025, 08:05:14 AMVery nice...Relatively simple and versatile...those little see-through structures really make a nice "complexity" to your foreground. Well done
John
Hello John, thank you for the nice comments. It helps when you are trying to copy the work of one of our hobby's greats- Cliff Powers.
Quote from: nycjeff on May 31, 2025, 08:38:13 AMQuote from: cuse on May 31, 2025, 08:05:14 AMVery nice...Relatively simple and versatile...those little see-through structures really make a nice "complexity" to your foreground. Well done
John
Hello John, thank you for the nice comments. It helps when you are trying to copy the work of one of our hobby's greats- Cliff Powers.
Yes. Cliff Powers has done some beautiful work...I know our buddy, ACLTom, considers him a major influence.
Nice work!
Jeff I really like the way that turned out nice job.
Jerry
Neat build Jeff, great details..... 8)
Quote from: cuse on May 31, 2025, 10:41:58 PMQuote from: nycjeff on May 31, 2025, 08:38:13 AMQuote from: cuse on May 31, 2025, 08:05:14 AMVery nice...Relatively simple and versatile...those little see-through structures really make a nice "complexity" to your foreground. Well done
John
Hello John, thank you for the nice comments. It helps when you are trying to copy the work of one of our hobby's greats- Cliff Powers.
Yes. Cliff Powers has done some beautiful work...I know our buddy, ACLTom, considers him a major influence.
Hello John, I've recognized some scenes on Tom's layout as coming from Cliff. If you look closely at my layout you would also see more than a few scenes that I copied from Cliff.
Quote from: Philip on June 01, 2025, 08:28:10 AMNice work!
Hello Philip, thank you sir
Quote from: Jerry on June 01, 2025, 08:38:37 AMJeff I really like the way that turned out nice job.
Jerry
Hello Jerry, thanks for looking in and for the kind words
Quote from: GPdemayo on June 02, 2025, 02:41:07 PMNeat build Jeff, great details..... 8)
Hello Greg, thanks for taking the time to comment, it's always nice to get some feedback.
A few more pictures...
Here's a closer look at the roof and a look at some of the details that I have added to the deck area.
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A look at the right side. I definitely have to add some more cross bracing to the underside. It's amazing how much more pictures show us than just looking at something right in front of you.
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A closer look inside. I've added a couple of scrap wood boards and some pigeons to the roof.
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The front, or high side of the roof, will face the siding track.
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A look thru the structure. I definitely have to add some rafter tails and end trim boards to the roof.
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That's it for now, back to work on this one for sure and I have some ideas for what I'm going to build for the back side of the deck .
Continuing on...
To help with the spacing of the rafter tails, I placed a drawing with marks 2 scale feet apart. I cut the rafter tails at a 1/2 inch length. This extra length makes it easier to handle the pieces while gluing them in place.
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The rafter tails have been glued on and as you can also see I installed the rest of the cross bracing under the floor deck.
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After waiting overnight for the glue to completely dry, I cut the rafter tails to their proper length with a small pair of nippers. I have very few tails break off when being trimmed using this method.
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For the end rafter which is the full length of the roof, I first glued on a piece of 1/16 inch square strip wood that's cut to the same width as the side wall This gives me more of a gluing surface when installing the end rafter.
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Here's a view of the installed end rafter, the underneath cross bracing and the trimmed rafter tails. I think that the structure looks a lot better now. This is as far as I am going to go with the structure for now, more details such as roof signage and non-working lighting fixtures will be added when this structure goes onto the diorama down the road.
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That's it for now, more later with an additional sub-assembly on the rear of the structure.
Here's a last look at the rafter tails and the underneath cross bracing. I'm glad that I spent the time to do these improvements. Many times it's the little things that make a model look better.
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The back side of the deck needed a way for the little people to get down to ground level. I first thought of a long straight ramp, but that took up too much room and just didn't look right.
Here's the first part of my solution. A center landing with a ramp down to the ground. I used a solid piece of wood for the ramp and once again scribed lines to represent boards. The two small pieces of wood in the lower right corner of the picture are support posts for the center of the lower ramp.
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The upper ramp from the landing to the main deck was next. Building it was fairly straight forward, but attaching it to the center landing was the tricksie part. It looks alright in the picture , but even after letting the glue dry overnight the whole thing did not want to hold together very well.
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My solution was to cut a styrene base for the whole sub-assembly. I painted it a brown ground color and added some dirt and ground foam. The assembly being held down with the file is a small kick railing that will go along the outside of the ramps and landing.
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Here the kick railings have been added and the sub-assembly has been glued to the base. I stained the whole thing with my A&I solution. I plan on some more weathering with chalks and some more casting details later.
I'm pleased with how this little build came out. It adds some more character to the larger deck structure and I think that it just looks good.
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That's it for now, more later.
Jeff,
Great job on this scratch build. Well done.
Tom
Jeff a great job on this build.
Jerry
Quote from: ACL1504 on June 06, 2025, 10:30:18 AMJeff,
Great job on this scratch build. Well done.
Tom
Quote from: Jerry on June 06, 2025, 10:33:02 AMJeff a great job on this build.
Jerry
Hello Tom and Jerry- see what I did there, you have to be pretty old to get the reference- thanks to both of you for looking in and for the kind words.
A few final pictures for now. I wanted to see what the deck looked like with the rear stairs in place.
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This is as far as I'm going to go at this time for this little build. When it comes time for this to go on the larger diorama I'll add some more scenery and details along with some little people.
I had fun with this build. Thanks to all who took the time to look in and send along some comments. The feedback is always appreciated.
Good looking loading dock, Jeff. That back ramp is a nice addition.
George
Jeff, great job building this.
You've managed to create a lot of interesting details in this small dock.
Well done.
Howdy Jeff,
The dock and ramp look fantastic. The dock is believable and looks realistic. Mighty fine work.
Have fun,
mike
Jeff,
Great subject, excellent work and a fine structure to boot, especially from a real-life carpenter.
My downfall is, I have to lock my train room door, try to keep my wife out while I build HO scale structures.
Dag-nabbit, she has been requesting me to use my skills to build in real-life rather than models...
Thanks for sharing, well done.
Rich
Jeff great job on the scratch build! Really like all the details you've added and yes the rafter tails adds a lot to the look of the structure.
Quote from: GeorgeD on June 06, 2025, 07:53:08 PMGood looking loading dock, Jeff. That back ramp is a nice addition.
George
Hello George, thank you sir, I'm pleased with how the back ramp came out.
Quote from: Rick on June 07, 2025, 06:39:42 AMJeff, great job building this.
You've managed to create a lot of interesting details in this small dock.
Well done.
Hello Rick, thank you for the nice comments.
Quote from: friscomike on June 07, 2025, 10:02:35 AMHowdy Jeff,
The dock and ramp look fantastic. The dock is believable and looks realistic. Mighty fine work.
Have fun,
mike
Hello Mike, I appreciate the encouragement and I did have fun with this build.
Quote from: Pennman on June 07, 2025, 10:35:32 AMJeff,
Great subject, excellent work and a fine structure to boot, especially from a real-life carpenter.
My downfall is, I have to lock my train room door, try to keep my wife out while I build HO scale structures.
Dag-nabbit, she has been requesting me to use my skills to build in real-life rather than models...
Thanks for sharing, well done.
Rich
Hello Rich, thank you for the kind words. I have a deal with my better half- I always do a few things on the "honey-do" list before I disappear into the train room for a while.
Quote from: Larry C on June 07, 2025, 05:25:33 PMJeff great job on the scratch build! Really like all the details you've added and yes the rafter tails adds a lot to the look of the structure.
Hello Larry, rafter tails are always a tedious detail to add to a structure, but they are always worth the effort when viewing the finished product.
Nice work on that. reminds me of P. Braggs produce kit from MT albert
Hello Philip, sorry for the late reply. I looked up the kit that you mentioned, it's a nice looking structure. Did you build that kit ?
No I didn't. One day I'll scratch build it..maybe :D