Kit-built Structure Rehab - IHC Machine Shop

[friscomike]

Howdy Vagel,

Bricking the interior walls is brilliant and adds a lot of character to the build.

Have fun,
mike

[deemery]

I remember building that IHC 'car repair shop' with the tall windows as a kid.  I didn't get the Machine Shop kit, but the two significantly different architectural styles should look good together.  And with those tall windows, doing the interior walls is definitely worth seeing. (pun intended)

dave

[Michael Hohn]

Off to a good start< Vagel.

[ACL1504]

Vagel,

Great job on rehabing the old structure. Nice job on the new wall.

Tom

[VagelK]

Thanks for the encouraging words!  I've got all four interior walls cemented in place, and spent some therapeutic time cutting out the window openings, trimming flash from the salvaged window frames, doing the sand-test fit-sand-test fit, etc. routine and the results so far are pretty good.  Following up on the bricked-up window opening suggestion, I tried it out with a couple of blanks, and.  It worked OK, but it got a thumb-down from Wifey, who thought it looked too much like urban decay "and, besides, they need all the natural light they can get in a machine shop, don't they?"



It does add some variety, but in the interest of household harmony I don't think we'll be bricking up any window openings in the repair shop.

[labdad]

Great idea!
Call Brett if you're interested.
Best to hear it from the horses mouth.
MJinTN

[VagelK]

I decided to go ahead with the expanded project and bash the Rwy Repair structure and the Machine Shop into an "L" shaped shop, because it gets away (slightly) from the "everyone else has one of those" factor.  This requires the elimination the rear wall of the Machine Shop so its roof will butt flush against the Rwy Repair Facility, which takes care of the problem caused by losing the window frames from damage during disassembly.  But, it also means  more prep work removing lumps and bumps from the casting process on the inside of the walls.



Also, note in the mock-up images that the folks at Pola used the same mold (one end and one side wall) for all four walls, so the cargo and man doors on the long sides are asymmetrically oriented.  I find this weird, but maybe that's the way it was on the prototype.  Or maybe it's a metric thing <J>. 

Whatever the case, I came up with a configuration that suggests a "history" of expansion from an original repair shop (ca. 1910) in the one-story brick structure with a recent addition (ca. 1935) with a concrete block first story.  It allows for a narrow gauge tram line to carry heavy machine parts into the new addition from some "imagineered" location (apologies to Walt Disney) hidden in the nooks and crannies between the blast house, boiler house, and furnace stack.  The tram comes from the right in the top image, and from the left in the one below.

There's some kind of outdoor A-frame gantry crane in the kit, which I might be able to re-use inside.  We'll see.



I had the idea to fill the blank void in the dormers on the end walls with Evergreen "metal siding.



And take note that the folks at Pola took the trouble to make sure that the masonry blocks on the walls of the Rwy Repair Facility are noticeably larger than the bricks on their Machine Shop.  So, it was back to the hobby shop, where I was fortunate to find that Plastruct's HO concrete block sheet is a spot-on match.  Yay!

The second story window frames fit the openings in the walls with very little sanding after trimming off the cast-on inset frame intended for gluing them to the interior walls per the kit's design.  Filling all those panes is going to be interesting; I'm going to experiment with Microscale Krystal Clear, but those openings might be just a bit too large.  Again, we'll see.



I'm off to the the E.B.T.'s "Winter Spectacular" and some time as a volunteer helping to inventory and catalog things in the Archives.  I'll pick up sometime after I return.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Neat project, Vagel.

It's coming on very well.  Cool design.

Cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

Great looking progress. The L shape building has more character than 2 rectangles.

[ACL1504]

Vagel,

This is looking great. Great kit bashing for a grand machine shop.

Tom

[elwoodblues]

Vagel,

With the addition, the machine shop will have a completely different look to it.  The build is looking great.