Winter Challenge 2024 - Flat Iron Corner Building - Tom Langford.

[ACL1504]

It was especially nice to see this build up close snd personal this morning. Well done/doing, Tom
terry

Butty Terry,

Your kind comment is very much appreciated. Thank you.

I had fun yesterday.

Tom 

[ACL1504]

Enjoyong this build, Tom. A great kit with some nice additions - that stain glass in the shop front looks great!

Craig,

Thank you for the comment. I kind of wish this was a kit. The stained glass does add a bit more to the overall appearance.

Tom 

[ACL1504]

Tom those walls look fantastic; keep up the great work.

Larry, 

Thank you for the compliment. I'm still at it.

Tom 

[ACL1504]

The rear of the Flat Iron will have an outside stair case. There are stair stringers available commercially if you chose to go that route. Many years ago I was scratch building a structure for a contest and the commercially ones weren't available. I didn't have time to wait.

I decided to scratch build my own stringers. The photo below is of the scratch built stringers.



Here's what I learned from the experience. I'm sharing it here to save you some aggravation if you ever want to try your hand at scratch building some stair stringers.

I thought 2X8s would be large enough to cut the stringers. Not so, as it didn't leave me much for the steps and they were to fragile.

I then tried 2X10s and again, not good either for the same reason.

I then went to 2X12's and bingo, perfect. BTW, a 1:1 stringer is also made from 2X12s.

The next photo shows a short piece of stringer I made several years ago. I used this as a pattern/template for the Flat Iron stringers.

[ACL1504]

Here is a photo of some stair stringers from Micro Mark. I've had these for several years and never used them. After measuring them, I found they were basically HO scale 1X6s, They are very fragile and flimsy.

You get what you pay for here.



Back in a few, Diet Pepsi time of course.

[ACL1504]

If you don't mind me giving some free advise, I'll say that if you aren't the patient type, don't cut your own stringers. The cutting needs to be precise and carefully done. It takes me a little over an hour to cut a 10 inch stringer from the HO scale 2X12s. I cut two 10 inch pieces.

Using my template piece, I started cutting the stringers from Northeastern Scale Lumber 2X12s.



You can see in the photo above that one angle piece split from the stringer.

All is not lost, just use the end of a toothpick and glue the split piece back on the stringer.

[ACL1504]

The next photo shows another piece missing. I didn't worry about this one as the stringer was long enough for my use on the structure.



Here is how the stringer looks when cutting with an Xacto #11 blade. I should add here a fresh #11 blade.

[ACL1504]

The pencil is pointing to the broken piece and not interfering with stringer.




Again, patience grasshopper, patience!

[ACL1504]

You don't need to be perfect. My stringers are on a structure that is supposed to be old and worn with little or no maintenance.

A bad cut can also look like a rotten section on the stringer.

My stringers are cut as you can see in the next photo. Next, I'll weather the stringers and cut some steps and railing posts.



Done for today.

[deemery]

"Patience, grasshopper, Patience!"  And a fresh X-Acto knife blade!!

dave

[elwoodblues]

Okay Tom, Inquiring minds want to know, how many #11 blades did those stringers take?

The stringers look great, well worth the time and effort.

[ACL1504]

"Patience, grasshopper, Patience!"  And a fresh X-Acto knife blade!!

dave

Dave,

Exactly, a fresh #11 is a requirement.

Tom 

[ACL1504]

Okay Tom, Inquiring minds want to know, how many #11 blades did those stringers take?

The stringers look great, well worth the time and effort.

Ron,

Thank you for the compliment on the stringers.

Only two blade were used here. The tip did all the cutting and it wears out fast for this type cutting.

Tom

[Pennman]

Tom,
You are absolutely a determined individual to possess dexterity in the cutting of your stringers.
I too, have cut my own and patience is required. I hate it when I get hasty and slice a piece off where it shouldn't be.
Great modeling and an excellent How-to. Thanks for sharing your skills.

Rich

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi Tom.

Maybe check out here

https://www.builders-in-scale.com/bis/parts-laserwood.html

for your next order.  They do stringers at several different gradients along with treads (and in several different scales).

I, too, have done my own stringers in a pinch, but did not enjoy it or find it very good value for money.  I found it hard to get things accurate enough to meet my quality control and found I had to be very selective with choosing my 2x12's with very straight grain, to avoid too many breakages.  The different gradients is also a welcome addition, as 45 degrees is rather steep for most stairs.  Another option (if persisting on making your own) is to make the stringers from plastic and paint them to match your stained timber.  I've had good results doing this with a grey primer followed up with adding soft pastel chalks mixed into a slurry with isopropyl alcohol using elephant, cool grey and (storm?) blue.  These are fixed with a pastel/ pencil fixative - not dullcote - which dissolves most of the chalk.  I do the same sometimes on timber, but apply with a fibre glass pencil.

Cheers, Mark.