Head For The Roundhouse Boys, They Can’t Corner You There!

This was an expression that my father would say to me. I’m not sure why. I have looked it up and I don’t know where he got it from but it always stuck with me, especially when building the GTR/CNR roundhouse that was in Owen Sound.

This installment is how the roundhouse is progressing.

The doors were made from Evergreen 1/16” scribed styrene sheet 0.020” thick. 1/16″ is 4 scale inches in S Scale. Evergreen S scale 1 x 8 and 1 x 10 strips were used for the inner bracing.

Of course the door sheathing had to be herring bone pattern. I firmly believe that the railway draftsmen designed them that way to frustrate modelers of the future. That said, I needed to cut the sheets at two opposing 45 degree angles to form the two directions that the boards went. 45 degrees looked about right.

***Styrene Scribed Sheet Cut at a 45 Degree Angle***

Since the doors were to be opened, I needed a front and back, both with herring bone sheathing. That meant for 6 doors, 12 pieces that theoretically would line up correctly both in front and back.

Using a modeler’s square, the door fronts and rears were carefully cut out from the styrene angled sheet. They needed a bit of truing up. Then the angled patterns were lined up for front and rear like a sandwich and were glued together.

***Door Sandwiches Showing Herring Bone Pattern***

The inside bracing was cut from the S Scale strip styrene, 1” x 10” for the outside frame and 1” x 8” for the cross pieces.

***The Inside of the Doors Showing the Bracing***

I wanted the doors to work so I needed to concoct some door hinges. They took a bit of effort and some adjustment in most cases. My friend, Ed Freeman, sent me a photo of an Ontario Northland roundhouse with three different door styles! Luckily one matched the ones on the Owen Sound roundhouse so I based the hinges on that picture. I don’t know if it is a copyright picture but I will not take any chances by publishing it.

I used 1/16” round brass tubing for the shoulders and 1/8” square brass tubing for the brackets. Straight pins which are 0.020” in diameter and can also be soldered were used for the bolts.

First I drilled 0.020” holes in the square tubing close to one edge right through first using a centring drill then a 0.020” drill bit. Then I used my mini table saw to mill away one side of the undrilled square tubing to form a long ‘U’. Next, using my mini chop saw, I cut the square tubing to form little ‘U’ brackets both single and double. Six singles were needed for the outer posts and six doubles were needed for the two inner posts. These effectively made up housings for 18 hinges.

***Drilling out 1/8″ Square Brass Tubing***

I then cut the 1/16” brass tubing into 1/16” lengths that would fit inside the brackets.

***A Tray Showing the Hinge Brackets and Shoulders***

1/16” wide 0.016” strips were used to for the strapping that went across the doors. The 1/16” brass tubing needed to be secured in order to solder the brass strip to it. This was done by placing a pin into the tubing and clamping the shaft of the pin in a vice. The end of the strip was tinned with solder, the tubing had flux put on and a resistance soldering probe provided the heat. I tested the joint and sometimes, I had to add a bit more solder to make the joint stronger.

***Soldering the Strap to the Shoulder***

Here are the hinge components.

The roundhouse was placed on its end and weighed down. The hinges were glued to the posts at the centre and equidistant from the centre using Gorilla brand thick crazy glue. Once dry, one at a time, the doors were glued in place starting with the centre hinge using small clamps. It was a slow process and sometimes meant a do-over of the bracket or repositioning the 1/16” tubing on the strip. The second from the left door had an access door in it and I scribed that in before installing it.

Once the hinges were installed and I was satisfied how they worked, I cut the end of the straight pins off using a side cutter. The ends of the pins had crazy glue dabbed on so they would stay in place. Hopefully over time, the crazy glue will stay in place!

I used Archer HO rivets on the hinge straps because I have not been able to find S scale ones.

The left doors had a piece of 1” x 10” added to the front of their outer sides where they meet the right doors. This formed the lip that covered the opening made between the two doors when closed to keep wind and snow out. When looking carefully at the photos, I noticed in the pictures I studied what appears to be leather flaps at the bottom of the doors that would have covered the rails and ties once the doors were closed to keep the weather out. I decided not to add this feature because I could not figure out a material that would work well enough.

***Archer Rivets Added to Hinge Straps***

I am happy with the results.

Next, I will finish the roof, the chimneys, and small shed attached to the right side.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

The Latest Duality

I have been doing two things at once on the layout, don’t we all? One is the building of a new Owen Sound roundhouse and working on the great rock wall of Wiarton. I am not going to bore you with how but only inform that things are progressing.

The old roundhouse was a partially built kit I bought from eBay. It came from the Building & Structure Co and was based on the Sargents Roundhouse on a Colorado narrow gauge line. Though it would have been long enough if my Pacifics were 100% to scale, it is not by 1/8″. Most model steam locomotives compromise because of the width of the flanges so the wheelbase on mine is longer by 1/8″. If you add the necessary distance between the tender for 38″ radii curves than the length of the Sergants roundhouse is not enough. It was also not tall enough in that the loco smoke stacks would hit the tops of the door openings. I considered modifying the kit but I decided it would be less work if I built another one around the kit using S Scale board and batten purchased from Mount Albert Scale lumber. The result does not have all the really cool interior boards and framing but it is expedient and functional. I don’t know yet whether the stalls retained the maintenance bays underneath the tracks. All major repairs were done in London, Stratford, or Palmerston depending on how difficult they were.

I decided to pin the roundhouse down so it could be removed. I have this thing about everything being removable for some reason. The nails and 0.020″ brass rod do work well and I am glad that I did it.

The roof was made in 0.060″ styrene sheet. Those 4 x 8 sheets I bought of that stuff are the gifts that keep on giving. The roof fits nice and snug. It is removable to facilitate when the inevitable derailment occurs when a loco is placed inside.

The doors have been built (you can see some to the right) but won’t be installed until I build some hinges. Of course I want them working. I have researched around and cannot find hinges that are small or correct enough so I am building all 18 of them from scratch.

The great rock wall of Wiarton is actually a northern part of what is called the Niagara Escarpment. It oversees the town and part of Colpoys bay where a lot of the rail action was in Wiarton. So, since the rail line paralleled it, I have a need to model it. It is only 12 feet long here and will have to be modelled on the backdrop behind Wiarton turntable as well.

I used a lot of rubber moulds that were lent to me by Jim Parker former owner of North York Hobbies. Thanks, Jim. What you see in these pics are the castings which were made from UltraCal 30 which is a tougher version of HydroCal. It is conveniently grey to boot. I tried plaster of Paris first but the medium was too soft and would crack when demoulded. The castings are mounted on Styrofoam sheet using “No More Nails”, industrial strength. The whole thing is attached to the backdrop using Velcro strips. It should be removeable, fingers crossed. The gaps in the rock face will be filled in with stiff UltraCal using a trowel and either moulds applied or a sculptur’s knife used while the material is still wet to blend things in. Most of the 50lb bag has been used. As usual, I am trying to capture the look and feel and not every aspect.

I would love to upload a prototype pic from the 1950’s to illustrate the escarpment but I am worried about copyright even though the pics are readily available on the web.

The next installment will be the DOORS for the roundhouse. I will try to light your fire with that one.

BTW, you might be a rivet counter if you count rivets!

North American Bent Chair Company/RCA Plant in Owen Sound Finale

After looking at photos and some overhead drawings, I discovered that I had laid the spur for the freight sheds too far away from the station siding. I needed to move it closer to the station siding which I did. The track centres are now 2 and half inches away instead of 5 inches. This makes room for the freight houses, bunkhouse and tool sheds between the road and the track. When I studied the drawing for the station, I learned that these buildings were actually backing onto First Ave West and not how I had interpreted the drawings in Ian Wilson’s book, Steam Over Palmerston. Because the road, which was concrete, has to be wide enough to look real, the buildings will have to be narrowed. Selective compression has become my friend.

The road was made from 0.060” sheet styrene and 0.0100” x 0.0100” strip styrene was used for the curb. I painted the road Floquil Cement. It looks like wet cement so I will eventually tone it down by weathering it. All in good time. Ground fill was added between the road and a sidewalk placed at the south end.

The windows were glued in place with thin ACC and once dried, clear plastic sheet was cut to size for the window panes which were glued in place using canopy glue. The blinds were cut from brown construction paper and glued to the backs of the windows once again using canopy glue.

Once all the windows and blinds were done, the panels were glued to the aluminum frame using water based contact cement. A faux partial roof made of black foam core was glued on though it can’t really be seen in these pictures. The extensions across the roof of the two southern crowns were glued in place. The northern crown with the column of two windows did not get these extensions for some reason. The finished building flat was gingerly placed on the layout. My first attempt was not careful enough and two panels did crack because I pushed on the middle of the panels instead of in between where the uprights to the frame were. This shows how brittle this casting material is. I would use a plastic based resin if I ever do something like this again. I could not fix them in place and I had to remove the cracked ones using a heat gun and replaced them with two extras that I had cast. I was more careful the next attempt.

Different panel styles are featured here.

I will not be modelling the outbuildings that were in front because of space considerations.

Other than some finishing touches here and there like perhaps the RCA sign, it’s done and I won’t be touching it unless absolutely necessary!

This has taken a lot more time that I thought when I started out but it is necessary. I suppose I could have painted the building on the backdrop…nah, too hard.

Next up…the Owen Sound turntable.

The North American Bent Chair Company/RCA Building in Owen Sound

I am going to preface this entry with an observation I have made about most of the projects I do. Once I get into a project, it invariably happens that a pause is needed and more preparation be made before any advancement towards the completion of said project. I wonder if anyone else has had this experience.

These past eight months I have pretty much only been working on one thing, the backdrop and building flats for Owen Sound. One of the most iconic buildings was the North American Bent Chair Company just across the road from the GTR/CNR roundhouse. It was very long and three stories high. Established 1894 then after a fire rebuilt in 1899, it was turned over to RCA in 1945 where RCA would build the wooden cabinets for its radios, TV’s, Hi-Fi’s etc. Unfortunately, it was torn down in 1980 before I became interested in Owen Sound.

This is the only complete photo that I have been able to find from the National Archives. I have other close up angled photos I gleaned from the Grey Roots Museum and Archives online pages that have really helped. I have joined them to support them. After studying the photos over and over, I decided that there were 22 panels with 9 windows, 1 wider panel with 12 windows, 1 narrower panel with 6 windows and one narrower panel with 2 centred windows and a large access door, so 25 panels in all. Three of the panels had ‘crowns’ and which stood out from the others.

I looked at various S scale buildings that I could modify but to no avail. Simon Parent told me that Willie Monaghan uses HO Design Preservation Models for his large buildings so I decided to try them. I managed to come up with a pattern for a 9 windowed panel, longer pilasters and made two rubber molds. I also included the windows in the molds. The other non-standard panels were cut and spliced the same way that the pattern was.

Original Panel is at the top left, Modified Ones Below

I used a water based resin to cast which is really easy to use and clean up but unfortunately very brittle. A person is supposed to use a special fiber glass to reinforce the casting but the sales person said that since the castings were so thin that the fiber glass would not be necessary. He was wrong but I persevered anyway.

Because I decided to do a partial side on the south end of the building, I cut a 9 panel casting vertically so that it has only 3 windows. There are 221 windows in all. I did do about 15 more castings than needed due to cracking and possible replacement if broken. The pilasters had wood stir sticks placed in the mold after the resin was painted in. That way when they were de-molded, they did not break. I learned that the hard way.

The panel castings were sprayed a matt gray colour and custom mixed acrylic brick coloured paint was dry brushed over the faces of the brickwork.

I decided I needed a frame to mount the panels and pilasters on. At first I tried square plastic tubing. It was too flexible and I feared that any flexing that much would crack the castings. So, I decided on using half inch aluminum ‘L’ girder which would nicely avoid being seen through the windows. I bought three 8’ lengths of it at RONA+ and used my modelling chop saw to cut the uprights. Holes were drilled for number 6 metal screws and 90 degree brackets to hold everything together. The frame is almost 8 feet long. There is a foam board base that it is on which gives it height over the soon to be concrete road way with curbs. The frame is held in place at the bottom with a 1” screw into brass tubing at either end. There is also some Velcro attached to the frame and backdrop so that it does not topple over. The tape is in place to keep the Sculptamold from sticking to the frame. Did I mention that I wanted it removable?

***The Aluminum Frame with a Styrene Road in Front***

Here is a mockup of how it will look. It is almost 8 feet long!

Next…adding the windows, glazing, curtains and installation.

Bridge Improvements

After looking at a video that showed the bridge over the Potawatomi River, I decided that the model that I built and posted earlier needed some improvement. This is especially true since an operator can see the track in the bridge.

Originally I had just placed some flex track in the bridge and though it served its purpose quite well, it did not look complete.

I took the bridge out and replaced the track with full span stained railway ties which I glued in with Gorilla brand ACC. Next I laid in some rail and looked at it.

***New Ties Glued in and Rails Placed***

Because the bridge is plastic and the plate under the ties is brass, there was no way I could spike the ties down. I was simply going to glue the rails down then I remembered tie plates. A one point I had some of Simon Parent’s excellent etched phosphor bronze tie plates but of course I could not find them anywhere. I contacted Simon and he still had some so I ordered a number of sheets know that I would probably need them for the turntables. They come on a full sheet and need to be cut out. First however, you have to spray some 3M 77 glue on the back, let it dry, then cut them from the fret and bend the tabs which fit over the ties. The tie plates have fine spike heads etched into them. You slide them on the rail and the spike heads keep them on the rail. Position the tie plates so that when the rail is put in place over the ties that they slip over the ties. This is a bit finicky but eventually it gets done. Patience is a virtue here.

***Tie Plates Slid Onto Rail and Tools of the Trade***

Then after the rails/ties are gauged and installed, you heat the top of the rails with a soldering iron tip that has the solder cleaned off. This melts the spray glue and fasten the tie plates to the tops of the ties and secure the track to the ties.

After the ballast is applied, I will add the guard rails. There were 3 of them for some reason. Next up doing the Owen Sound RCA building.

Park Head Station is Done!

After about 3 years, Park Head Station and out buildings are done! Here is a picture of the completed station which was built by splicing together two Bachmann On30 passenger cars to get the correct length. I cut out the original windows and Jamie Bothwell kindly laser cut some window opening strips for me out of styrene. I added all the frames and dividers using different Evergreen styrene S scale strips. The ‘A’ frame was built up the same way using Evergreen S scale strip styrene. I am happy with the result.

The station is in the condition that it would have been 1949/50, no peeling paint. Eventually, I will weather it and all the other buildings. I tend to do things in batches so when it’s time for switch stands or telegraph poles and other details, they will be added to the entire layout at the same time.