O'Neils Mercantile & Repair

[Larry C]

Micheal thank you; appreciate the comments.

[Larry C]

Been making some nice progress with all these rainy days. The decking on the side of the Mercantile is made out of 2x10's, grained, weathered then constructed on a piece of 110# paper which has been glued in place. The second story porch from 2x10's for the flooring and 3x12's for the frame treated in my usual manner. The supports are 6x6's and the cross brace is 1x6's. Also the landing, that's sitting on the deck atm, will of course be raised up to meet the first set of stairs and the second set will come off the front of the landing; waiting on that part of the construction for a bit. The rear decking and the Shop floor won't be glued in place for awhile.



The decking across the back is a copy of what's on the side. The next area back is the floor for the Repair Shop. Started with another piece of 110# paper for the base cut to size then added 2x10's for the floor boards again done in my usual manner. I did glue each strip in 3 pieces to look more realistic. The rails were a little tricky to install. After I had some of the flooring glued down I then used super glue on the bottom of the first rail and placed it tight against the flooring. Grabbing my track gauges I placed them on the glued track then ran glue on the bottom of the second one then quickly set it in place and made any adjustments before the glue had a chance to set up. After everything had dried I finished the flooring; this I also glued each strip in 3 pieces staggering the joints.



Since I have already determined the rest of the hand laid track will be set on 2x10 ties I needed to raise the floor up a little bit. I used more 2x10's and framed out the underside of the floor which also stiffened up the floor quite a bit. There will be a 2 inch difference between the back deck and the Shop floor but that I can live with.



I wanted the Shop building to be a little past the Mercantile so it's somewhat visible when you look at the front of the diorama.

Next I'll continue working on the outside walls of the Shop covering the cracks between the 2x10's with 1x4's just to add more interest, which is almost finished. Then it's on to detailing the Shop interior  before the walls can be glued together then to the floor. I'm also toying with the idea of adding a knoll behind the Repair Shop so the diorama doesn't look so flat. Thanks for stopping by and for all your great comments and/or suggestions so stay tuned.

[PRR Modeler]

Very nice Larry. Everything looks great.

[Jerry]

Looks great Larry.  Your keeping everything in line and greeat job on the coloring.

Jerry