Hank's Machine Shop

[Larry C]

Some time ago I was looking though my computer files when I ran across Brian Nolan's "Ullins Machine Shop." After looking over the photos I thought it would make a nice project. Now I know Deemery (Dave) is also in the middle of his Machine Shop build but his is a kit while mine will be scratch built.

Some personal history:
Quite a few years ago Rick started a thread in the RR-line Forum building a Shop patterned after the one built by Steve Pettit. It started out as a thread that Rick was building but as time went on more and more people jumped in; when the thread was finished it was about 120 pages long.

Being inspired by the thread I decided to have a go at scratch building my first Shop. Needless to say that was a learning build of what to do but more importantly what NOT to do. About the same time Karl Allison was kind enough to give me the link to his build on the SW Forum. I spent hours studying his great work and how he did things realizing I was going about things backwards but I did finish the Shop. Fast forward I made a second Shop and this time I used what I had learned previously so it turned out pretty good. Both Shops had rail coming into it for Loco repair.

Now I thought it would be a fun build to do just a Machine Shop, using Brian's Shop as inspiration, and see what I could come up with. After taking some measurements of my second Shop I sat down and started figuring what exactly I wanted this one to look like and how to go about the construction.

Welcome to Hank's Machine Shop

With this build I'm going to try and give more detail on various techniques I use. First thing was to come up with a size; nothing terribly large but a manageable size to be filled with machines and details. Also I decided to have the horizontal steam engine, boiler, and water tank on the side of the Shop this time around. Any rail will be behind the Shop this time more for deliveries more than anything else.



To get started I taped a piece of 1/4 inch graph paper to my glass working plate with a sheet of wax paper over top so the glue won't stick to the paper. Like making any building in real life, I started with the bottom and will work my way up. The floor measures 36 x 20 scale feet. The base frame is made up from 8x8's grained where it'll be visible only.



The floor joists are made from 6x6's grained and colored with chalks, clear alcohol then given a coat of A&I; again only what will be visible. With the floor having to support quite a bit of weight from the various machines I wanted to use a beefier size lumber.



The floorboards are made from 4x10's grained, colored with chalks and clear alcohol then given a liberal coat of A&I to bring out the grain. Each row was constructed using either 2 or 3 pieces of flooring per row to look more realistic. Each joint received some extra graining on the ends with my plumbers wire brush and yes I did add nail holes throughout. Also I used a darker color for the floor to add some "age" to it.

My goal is to have a Shop that looks used over time but well taken care of. Too many times I've seen shops that look like they're "on their last legs", which is what the builder intended, but I'm sure there were many throughout this Country that were used but well taken care of.

The next task is to elevate the floor to the point where my Ford TT truck can back up to a dock in the front and be even with the truck bed for some modeling variety and for a different look from what I've modeled previously. Come along and join the fun. 

[PRR Modeler]

Looks great so far Larry. I'll definitely be following.

[Rick]

Larry, this will be another build to follow along and enjoy.
The base and floor are looking good.

[deemery]

Are you planning belt drive?  Need pulleys?  

dave

[Larry C]

Curt and Rick thank you both and for following along.

Dave yes I'll be doing a primary & secondary belt drive. Not sure about
the pulleys yet; however I do have some I have recently acquired but I'll let
you know when I get to that point.

[labdad]

I'm looking forward to what you build. Brian was a good friend. I'm sure he is smiling down.
I'm working on my 1:16 machine shop. Stay tuned.
Mj

[Philip]

Your off to a great start Larry!

[Jerry]

Larry it will be fun to watch you go full steam ahead with this build!!
Your off to a good start.

Jerry

[Pennman]

Good for you Larry. This type of machine shop is perfect. I like your concept.
If you need any pictures of Brian's Machine Shop that were in Mario Rapinett's
Worldwide Modeling folders, I have many. He once told me to share anything I have with others.
Good luck with this build, I will be following along.

Rich

[Larry C]

Mj it'll be nice having you tag along; of course no pressure here I just hope I can
do Brian's memory justice. Looking forward to your 1:16 build btw.

Philip thank you; great to have you along for the ride.

Jerry thank you so much and for joining in.

Rich thanks and for tagging along. I have a little over 30 photos of Brain's build; probably the same ones.
I'll be using his Shop as inspiration while adding my own twist to things just to keep it interesting.

[friscomike]

Howdy Larry,

Hank's looks like a fun build.  Great start on the wall.  Looking forward to all those belts.

Have fun,
mike

[Larry C]

Mike thanks so much and yes this is going to be a fun one.

[Larry C]

Time for a small update:



Now it's time to elevate the Shop floor. After thinking about different ways to go about the elevation I decided to take advantage of the dementional lumber; that way I would know everything would be the exact same height. With that in mind, and after doing some careful measuring, 2 pieces of scale 12x12 inch lumber would fit the bill. These were cut 2.5 ft in length then 2 stack one on top of the other. All the wood was grained, colored with chalk & clear alcohol along with a liberal coat of A&I. Anything that wouldn't be visible was left as raw wood.



Here's what it looked like when completed. I also added a few pieces of 1x6's all around the base frame for a little added detail.



And a "proof of concept" photo. The back of the truck is a little shy of being perfectly level with the dock but that will be fixed when the Shop is glued to the base and scenery material is added.

Next will be to start building the back and 2 side walls. These will be completed both on the interior and exterior as far as finishes are concerned. Thanks for stopping by for a look-see and for all your great comments and/or suggestions.

[PRR Modeler]

Great progress Larry. Do I understand that the platform will be mounted flush on your foam with the legs sunk in?

[Jerry]

Nice flooring Larry.
Keep up the great work Brian is looking over your shoulder!!

Jerry