Wichendon Machine Shop (restart)

[deemery]

The main framing for the 2nd floor is very fragile.  I suspect in part that's because the wood has dried out more in the last dozen years.  I have several framing members that broke where the glue is drying to put them back together.   Maybe later today I'll try to do the framing members to each other and the floor.  

I also dug out the 2nd story partition pieces, to decide where to put them.  This is another case where the instructions say "see the photos", but the photos didn't help much.  This is definitely a kit where I have to take breaks during the assembly process, to avoid too much frustration... 

dave

[swisstrain]

I hear you on the fragility of that framing.  I had several of those break, even a few years ago.  While the age (and dryness) may have something to do with it and may exacerbate the situation, they were fragile to begin with.

[deemery]

I'm slowly adding the framing to the 2nd story floor.  I'm using thinned yellow carpenter's glue for strength.  I do one piece, let it set up for an hour or so, and move onto the next.  The kit comes with a partition to separate an office area from the larger open space.  That partition has horizontal siding above and vertical siding (wainscoting) below, with a belt rail.  I decided it would be "funky" to have that fancy partition but not to have a similar treatment for the office along the exterior walls.  So I've glued together .020 scribed siding and a piece of styrene strip, and I'll construct and glue the partitions to the exterior walls in the office space. 


My "Sierra Railroad Machine Shop" (replacement) book arrived yesterday.  This has the kind of detail and explanation needed to construct the belt drive. 

(If I were interested in NMRA achievement program, I bet I'll have "pimped out" this kit enough to qualify for a merit award...)

dave

[Larry C]

Dave looks like you're going right to town on your Shop. I've never seen one done with the second story before; I'll have to check in now & then to see your progress. Brett does have a great way of explaining stuff. Enjoy.

[PRR Modeler]

Great looking progress Dave.

[deemery]

All the post assemblies are glued into position, along with the central beam.  Things are notched so the attic floor/2nd story roof sits flush on the assembly, so all those weights help hold things correctly.

Tomorrow I'll add the other two beam assemblies, that go along the outside edges.  Once all three are glued into position, the assembly should be pretty strong.  

dave

[jbvb]

Looks good. My email asking the HUB Division list about Godspeed Machine hasn't gotten any answers. I'll try a couple of FB groups.

[Philip]

  Great work!

[deemery]

Today's task is to add the 'fancy walls' to the office section, and to trim the window frames to fit the 2nd story framing.  There's a surprising amount of corners I have to trim down to make the wall fit flush against the framing.  Now the fit of the 'fancy walls' is not very good, frankly, so 'no merit award' for me...  But it'll look fine through the windows.  My goal is to get this done, then lock the studs with CA on all 4 walls.  Then I can spray paint maybe late today or tomorrow.

add: (I admit to being a bit burnt out on this right now, but not so bad it'll go back on the shelf...)

dave

[jbvb]

Progress is progress.  Do you have any small files with smooth narrow sides?  One could even up the bottoms of the fancy interior walls in place. I have a 4" knife file with a blank back edge that I use that way.

[deemery]

Progress is progress.  Do you have any small files with smooth narrow sides?  One could even up the bottoms of the fancy interior walls in place. I have a 4" knife file with a blank back edge that I use that way.

Nail files are that way, and I think my paint paddle sandpaper files would also fit.  They have a blind edge just for that reason.  I don't think this will be too noticeable through the windows, but we'll see how it looks when the walls are painted.

dave

[deemery]

I went back over the studs, etc, with CA to lock them in place, and then spray painted both sides.  The 'fancy finished' office looks pretty good, although the spray paint filled in the vertical scribed siding.  That's OK, it won't be a big deal through the windows.

There's a bit of warping (long edge) on the walls, I hope sitting under weights will pull that out.  It'll be a particular issue if I do try to make one wall removable.  

dave

[Jerry]

They look fine Dave nice job.

Jerry

[PRR Modeler]

Very nice job Dave.

[swisstrain]

Nice job, Dave.

I had problems too with warping of the walls, but unfortunately, there is no real way to add any bracing, since it would interfere with the framing for the floors.  I did some along the walls where I observed warping, but was limited to short sections.  Unfortunately, as you note, this will make construction of a removable wall difficult.

Nevertheless, good progress!