Building an REA Freight House

[ReadingBob]

Wonderful job so far Jeff!  This is really shaping up to be a great looking structure.   

[Jerry]

Nice job on this Jeff.


Jerry

[GPdemayo]

The trusses look great Jeff.....they really add more visual interest to the interior. 

[Bernd]

Jeff,

Nice job on the building. Like the detail inside the building with the trusses.

Bernd

[Mark Dalrymple]

Lookin good, Jeff.

Nice job on the contrast colours on those doors.

Cheers, Mark.

[ACL1504]

Jeff,

Wow, I really like what you are doing here. Makes me want to start my build, but alas, I just don't have the time now.

Great build Jeff, really nice.

Tom 

[nycjeff]

Thank you Bob, Jerry, Greg, Bernd, Mark and Tom. I appreciate everyone looking in. I'm having a real good time with this scratch-build.

[postalkarl]

Hey Jeff:

It coming along quite nicely. Can't wait to see more.

Karl

[nycjeff]

Hey Jeff:

It coming along quite nicely. Can't wait to see more.

Karl

Hello Karl, thank you for checking in. I'm enjoying this scratch-build.

Continuing on...



The roof card for the large freight warehouse is next. The roof is so big that the entire back cardboard piece from a legal pad was not big enough ! I had to cut a second piece and tape it to the large one. The pencil outlines on the roof card are for the roof sub-assemblies. The square one on the right is for the second story office structure and the one on the right is for a clerestory window structure. The irregular shape on the left side of the roof card is there so that the warehouse fits around the first tall structure.



To start the second story office roof sub-assembly I did what I always do on a scratch-build, that is to draw a full size template. The drawing helps me to visualize the actual wall. You can see that I have placed some windows and a corbel (from Tichy) on the drawing.



I have cut out the wall pieces from the clapboard siding. Two are cut to match the roof slope and the other two are cut to go along the roof. Window openings have been cut into one of the wall pieces.



All of the window openings have been cut and the walls have been braced. The bottom brace pieces on the straight bottom walls are placed slightly up so that they do not interfere with the walls resting on the roof. The bracing extends up on the top of the walls to give me a gluing surface for the corbel wall extensions.



The corbel wall extension has been added along with the window glass and the window treatments. Tichy provides acetate cut to the correct size with their windows which is very convenient. For the window treatment on this build I am using a venetian blind look that I copied off of the web. The top piece of bracing is for a larger gluing surface for the roof card. More in a minute

[nycjeff]

The walls were first sprayed with rattle can dark grey primer. I then dry-brushed the green color on the walls. The corbel wall extensions with the glued on corbels and the windows were sprayed with rattle can flat red primer. I sponged on some light grey craft paint to the windows and corbel wall extensions for an aged look and to highlight the corbels. The New York Central signs are from the web. I copied them and then resized them to fit. I glue on my signs with full strength wood glue and then press them into the siding with my fingernail. I have added some brown and black weathering chalks to the walls. I like the venetian blind look in the windows.



The walls have been glued together and strip-wood bracing has been placed across the corners for stability. You can see the corner trim pieces in this view.



A top view of the assembled walls with the bracing. The angle braces really help strengthen the sub-assembly.  The corbels stand out in this view. This is the first time I have used corbels in a build. A look at the Tichy catalog shows several types of corbels to choose from. Items from Tichy are very useful when doing a scratch-build and you will find that the kit manufacturers use Tichy parts in their kits as well.



A view of the completed walls for the second story roof sub-assembly. I added some horizontal 2x4 strip-wood trim pieces at the wall and corbel wall extension joint. This covers the seam nicely.  I am very pleased with how this came out and I really like the corbels. There is a big difference between just painting molded on corbels on a kit wall and actually placing the corbels on a scratch-built wall and then finishing them. Scratch-building is very challenging and satisfying to me.



Next is the clerestory roof sub-assembly. You can see that I have drawn the outline of it onto my previous drawing. I have cut out the first of two walls that match the roof slope. That's it for now, more later.

[bparrish]

Jeff.........

Tell me about the ball end hand drill that showed up in a photo above.   I've seen them before but don't know how you operate them.

Do you palm it and spin the knurl with your fingers or do you wrap a string around the body and pull it to turn?

If it is a cool tool..... I'm always interested.
Thanx


See ya
Bob

[postalkarl]

Hey Jeff:

A little more progress. Looks just great.

Karl

[nycjeff]

Jeff.........

Tell me about the ball end hand drill that showed up in a photo above.   I've seen them before but don't know how you operate them.

Do you palm it and spin the knurl with your fingers or do you wrap a string around the body and pull it to turn?

If it is a cool tool..... I'm always interested.
Thanx


See ya
Bob

Hello Bob, you had it right the first time, you palm it and turn the knurl with your fingers. It is a very simple tool to use and it gives you great control .

Hey Jeff:

A little more progress. Looks just great.

Karl

Hey Karl, thanks for keeping an eye on my build. I'm using pictures from your build thread of the kit as a guide for my scratch-build.

[postalkarl]

Hey Jeff:

Ok.

Karl

[Bernd]

Jeff,

Some good info for me on construction. Never thought to cross brace a building like you did. I also like the idea of painting the parts of the building before finial assembly. These are some of the techniques you guys have shown that have been so helpful to me. Thanks.

Bernd