Building an REA Freight House

[nycjeff]

Hey Bernd, glad that you are getting something worthwhile from my build thread. Like you, I have picked up many useful tips and techniques from members of the forum. The fact that everyone puts their knowledge and experience out there for all to see is what makes this hobby and the forum so great.

[nycjeff]

Continuing on...



Next is the hip roof for the second story office sub-assembly. I started out by cutting a square piece of cardboard for the base of the roof and then glued it to the top of the walls. I then cut  some triangular pieces of cardboard as shown to give me some support for the roof cards. Next I glued the support pieces to the flat roof base.



I then cut four more triangular shaped pieces of roof card to form the hip roof. There was a lot of trial and error involved in this process. I finally got the four pieces to fit together properly at the seams as shown. The roof is now ready for some shingles.



This is another view of the second story office sub-assembly with the roof cards installed.



I decided that I wanted a clerestory window roof  addition for my warehouse. I saw this on several of Cliff Powers Magnolia Route layout structures and liked the look. I cut out the four wall pieces from the clapboard siding and then cut out the window openings. I used the same 1/8 square strip-wood for the bracing.



I painted the windows with rattle can flat red primer. I wanted the windows to be tilted open and Tichy offered a perfect option.



I first sprayed the walls with rattle can dark grey primer and then dry brushed them with my Forest Green craft paint. I glued on the 1/16 square corner trim pieces and after sponging on some light grey to the windows, glued them in place. More in a minute.

[nycjeff]

The walls have been glued together and the tilt out windows have been installed. I cut out a roof card and glued it to the top of the walls.



Here is a view of the clerestory roof addition with the roof card glued on. The roof is now ready for either shingles or roll-roofing material, I haven't decided which at this point.



Next is a long freight dock for the trackside of the warehouse building. I am using a deck template from a KC Workshop kit I built a while back. I used 8x8 strip-wood for the frame of the dock. I then used 2x8 strip-wood for the floor joists, gluing them using the spacing on the template.



I then glued on 2x10 strip-wood for the deck boards. I cut them into HO scale 8, 10, 12 and 16 foot lengths.



Turning over the dock I glued 2x4 strip-wood for cross bracing between the dock legs which are the same 8x8 strip-wood that I used for the dock framing.



I then used 2x4 strip-wood for bracing across the front and back of the dock. There is always a lot of small wood pieces involved in building a dock, but the end result is worth the work. That's it for now, more later.

[GPdemayo]

Good looking framing work Jeff.....

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking really good, Jeff.

I always glue my corner trim to the gable walls so I can trim them off to the rake of the roof.

Cheers, Mark.

[nycjeff]

Good looking framing work Jeff.....

Hello Greg, thanks for the nice comment, I'm having fun with this build

Looking really good, Jeff.

I always glue my corner trim to the gable walls so I can trim them off to the rake of the roof.

Cheers, Mark.

Hey Mark, thanks for checking up on me, you're right, the corner trim should be on the gable end walls to be trimmed to match the roof rake, I don't know what I was thinking- a senior moment I guess.

[nycjeff]

A short update on my scratch-build while I wait for more roof shingles to come in...



The man door at the end of the freight warehouse needed a landing and some stairs so I built this from strip-wood from my stash. The deck was built the same way as the long freight dock- 8x8 for the frame, 2x8 for the joists and 2x10 for the floor boards. I used 4x4 for the railing posts and 2x4 for the railings. The stairs were built using stringers from KC's Workshop and 2x8 for the treads. I stained it all with my AI solution and then weathered it with chalks.



Another view, I used my red trim color for the railings.



A bottom view with the 2x4 cross bracing. There were a lot of pieces used to build this little landing, but I am pleased with how it came out. I'm getting better with the wood railings.



I ordered 3 tab dark green shingles from Rail Scale Models with the adhesive backing and started the gable roof from the first building. The shingles go on easily and the adhesive backing eliminates the messy glue method of installing the shingles. As you can see, I turned up a few shingles with my Exacto knife and started to weather the roof with some chalks.



I also started to shingle the hip roof of the second story roof sub-assembly. That's it for now, more later when the rest of my shingles arrive.

[S&S RR]

Jeff


Very nice build! It looks great.

[nycjeff]

Hello John, thanks for looking in and for the kind words. I'm enjoying this build very much.

[nycjeff]

It's been awhile since I've added to this thread, sometimes real life gets in the way of our hobby, but here we are now, so...



I finished the shingles on the clerestory roof assembly. The self-adhesive shingles from Rail Scale Models work really well for me. I picked up some shingles for a three dimensional look and started adding some weathering chalks.



To start the roll-roofing for the build I cut a piece of brown construction paper into four pieces.



I then sprayed the pieces with rattle can camo green paint and started to cut it into 3/8 wide strips



I then roughed up the edges of the strips with some sandpaper to expose some of the brown color below the green. This gives it an aged look that I like.



The roll-roofing has been glued onto the warehouse roof with full strength wood glue. The open spaces are for the roof assemblies.



The raised edges of the roll-roofing strips is meant to go up the sides of the roof assemblies for a weather-proof effect. More in a minute

[nycjeff]

Continuing on...



Here I've started to add rafter tails to the clerestory roof assembly. This is always a tedious job but it is worth the work for the effect it gives. I usually cut the rafter tails longer than needed to make it easier to glue them on and then I come back the next day and clip off the excess.



I've cut the base for the building from some thin styrene and taped off the building footprint to get ready for painting the base with brown craft paint and then add some sifted dirt to begin the scenery process. This is a large building so the base is 19 1/2 inches long and 10 1/4 inches deep.



Jumping ahead to some pictures of the assembled building. There were 8 sub-assemblies to this build counting the loading dock and the steps.





I've started to add some detail castings



More in a minute

[nycjeff]

A start on the ground cover material has been added







A roof-top view, I still need to add some roof details- chimneys, vent pipes and the large sign for the warehouse roof. That's it for now, more later.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking really great, Jeff.

Cheers, Mark.

[nycjeff]

Hello Mark, thanks for looking in and for the nice comment

Continuing on...



One of the nice features of the Foscale REA freight house kit that I am using for the inspiration for my scratch-build is the large Fast Freight sign on the warehouse roof. Since I am modeling the New York Central and their fast freight system was their Pacemaker system, my sign had to reflect that fact. I played around on my computer and came up with the sign pictured above.



I cut out the sign into the shape seen above.



I then traced the cutout sign onto some thin styrene and painted both sides with my red trim color.



Then I started to build the sign support system. First I used some cardboard to cut a shape that reflected the slope of the roof and a straight front. I then used the cardboard to draw out a template for the sign supports. I used 1/16 strip-wood for the supports.



I made five supports using the template and then glued three horizontal pieces across the front for a gluing surface for the sign. I also glued horizontal pieces across the back of the diagonal parts of the supports and across the bottom of the supports. This gave me a nice strong system for the sign. More in a minute.

[nycjeff]

I then stained the sign support system with my AI solution and glued the sign to it. I bent some brass wire to a gooseneck shape and glued some Tichy lamps to the ends.



Another view of the sign with the lights.



A better view of the rear horizontal support pieces.



As an aiside, the picture in the background is one of my bride standing on the old track right-of-way near Killbuck, Ohio where the track has been removed and has been turned into a hiking trail.



I then glued the sign onto the warehouse roof. I was very pleased with how it came out. This was the first time that I have tried a sign of this size with this complicated a support system. This roof-top sign is the ninth sub-assembly for this build and except for some roof details and some more casting details around the building I am nearing the end of this scratch-build. I will include a few pictures after I plant the building on my layout. That's it for now, more later.