Kit-built Structure Rehab - IHC Machine Shop

[PRR Modeler]

You're doing a great job completely changing the look of the old building.

[VagelK]

Well, I did something a little off-script.  While sorting thru the kit boxes getting ready to cut out the openings in the interior of the wall of the Railway Repair Facility wing that will face the front of the L-shaped structure (facing the layout aisle), I spied a Grandt Line station door and frame in the spare parts box. As an indication of how long it has been lying around, the price for the pack of two was $2.50!

So, this session got spent enlarging the man door opening and trimming it with some Evergreen styrene .060" channel to fit the frame snugly.  The kit's man doors are quite low, IMHO, plus this gives the German-designed structure a more "North American" look.  In the picture, the frame and door are not glued in yet; the door is held in place with a piece of blue masking tape from behind, which is why it's a little cattywompus.



The cargo door opening and the two small windows above it on this wall will have to be altered, as well, to make larger opening leading from the rear of the Machine Shop structure into this "expansion wing", so the discontinuity in heights won't be an issue in the final result.

[deemery]

I did something similar on my BEST farmhouse. I wanted a door where there was a window.  In my stash, I found a Tichy Masonry door that was wide and tall enough.  I added some 1x6 styrene strip to create the door framing, and .015 x .030 as a threshold.  A full set of Evergreen strips is a great investment.

dave

[VagelK]

All interior walls have been bricked or blocked according to their exteriors, window and door openings cut out, trimmed, and sanded to fit the frames that will go in them.  One of the window openings in the wall of the Rwy Repair Facility, which faces the interior of the Machine Shop structure, has been blocked up, as well.

I decided to start the next phase by building a foundation and sub-floor for the Machine Shop building.  Because the Rwy Repair Facility wing will sit on the ground, the final structure will be split-level, so I cut out a ramp leading from one to the other. 

The foundation is fabricated from Evergreen .125" x .250" strips on edges, cross-braced by strips of the same dimensions on lying flat. 





The sub-floor consists of a sheet of Evergreen .030 underlying another sheet .040 thick.  This leaves just enough space for a wood floor of 2"-thick planks of Northeast Scale lumber.  I sketched outlines for a shop office and a store room up front. 



Right now I think the flooring in the office will be uniform 2x6's, with random 2x6, 2x8, 2x10, and 2x12's for the rest of this wing.  I'm also going to try my hand at framing 2x4 partition walls.



You might also note that I shortened the ramp during the process of laminating the two styrene sheets.  And I got a little careless with measuring and marking the sub-floor sheet; not to worry - the corners of the foundation are square.

While lining up the Rwy Repair Facility wall with the Machine Shop foundation assembly I noticed the former was bowed.  Notice the shadow in the left-hand corner between the sub-floor and wall in the top photo.  It's also noticeable in the inset at right in the photo below.  Phooey!  I attribute this to a reaction of different kinds of plastic being laminated by plastic cement.  It has also happened to the side walls of the Machine Shop, but fortunately not to the front wall, as can also be seen in the photo below; note the fairly prominent overhang of the center buttress and slightly less prominent overhangs in those to either side, while the corners are lined up. 



I think I can remove the curvature on the Machine Shop walls by clamping them against some temporary cross-bracing before cementing the bottoms of the walls to the .125 x .250's.  I don't want to have any anachronistic cross-bracing.  That step is going to be "interesting."

[PRR Modeler]

Great looking progress Vagel. The Evergreen foundation looks like it came with the original kit.

[VagelK]

Thanks, Curt.