Ocalicreek builds a scalescenes.com card structure!

[scottcn]

Haven't had much time in the last couple days to make much progress but I did get the doors installed. I love that the main sliding door actually opens ....



...and closes...



The back door, unfortunately, is stuck in whatever position you glue it. Looks like my door is a bit too high for someone to reach up there and manually pull it down. Hmmm... There must be a motor in that shed somewhere that automagically opens and closes the door.



Were I to do this model again, I'd probably cut a piece of light or medium card to the width of that blue door and as long as the part of the door that you can see in the above photo and would glue that piece of card between the layers of the door. As it is now, that back door is just a double thickness of regular paper and (on my model) is slightly wavy. I think having some extra thickness in the unrolled portion of the door would solve that minor problem.

You can see that the roof is temporarily installed. I had to trim the roof to fit ... still need to trim the top cover layer and glue it on. With luck (and not too much basketball watching) I'll be able to finish the roof and start on the final roof/buttress capping this weekend. This project is getting close to completion :thumb:

Anybody else addicted to the NCAA men's basketball tournament? My bracket has UCLA over UNC in the finals.

- Scott

 

[Wabash Banks]

Not an NCAA fan but I am a fan of the job you have done on this building! Looks very nice! I too like that the sliding door is movable. I few boxes and crates sitting around inside so that you can look through the doors and this model will be in full operation!

 

[scottcn]

Dan - Thanks for the kind words. I am also (mostly) pleased with how the building looks. You mentioned that you were going to try build this shed again and improve on your last effort. Any progress to share or pictures to show?

- Scott

 

[ocalicreek]

Progress...and fun clamps!

Hello All!

Well, it's been a few days longer than I'd wanted to take before posting, but no sweat, it's a hobby, afterall, right? Right. Good. Now on with the pictures.



First up, a comparison shot. On the left is the buttress after removing half the thickness and then wrapping it in the brick overlay. On the right, the original buttress before thinning and without the overlay.

I should also point out here, that by this time I had discovered my spray adhesive wasn't really doing a good job of holding the base sheet onto the card stock. Some was, some wasn't, so I'm not sure if it's just old adhesive or the nature of the material, or the time between spraying and sticking, or what.



Next, looking down into the building, before the corner caps were added (or even prepared) but after the plinth and top brick insert was added. At this angle you can see the thickness of the buttresses vs. the wall itself and all the layers. The wall plus exterior buttresses really would have been WAY too thick and would have overshot the long wall 'buttress' bit.



Attack of the clamps! This is after the corner caps have been added. I have many other photos of progress in-between, so if there's something that someone wants a better look at (or a step-by-step how-I-did-it post, like the corner caps), let me know and I'll see what I can do.

I guess these qualify as cool tool #3. I've had them a while and used them often. I'd really love a set of those mini trigger-ratchet bar clamps, but these work for smaller jobs.



Attack of the Clamps, II! Here they are, at it again, only this time holding the interior platform cover and ramp in place. Note the beveling on the bottom of the ramp where it meets the floor. Also note the gap on the left between the platform and the interior buttress. Hmmm....not sure why that happened, probably had to do with the thick card thickness? Anyway, I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it.

Had a great SPRING day today, out along the tracks at the Kelso station with the kiddo in time to see the southbound Coast Starlight come through followed by a stack train of primarily "Seattle Waste Management" containers (I think that's right...) then a northbound Cascades with the rear engine pushing. That's a cool train...with the talgo trainset.

Even still, managed to get a bit done on the structure. I've been more into working on it than posting about it lately so I've some catching up to do! I'm almost finished, with only the wall and buttress caps left to do. Still, as I look at it, there are a few details I'd like to change and add. The roof hatch looks too much like a suitcase laying on the roof to me, and a few bits of wire here and there would give it a more finished look. We'll see.

Thanks again for reading, and please keep sharing if you're working on one of these gems yourself! Happy Modeling!

 

[Glen Haasdyk]

great assembly shots. I haven't started on mine yet since i'm still working on my sawmill project.
As a side note. Paper Creek models does laser cut structures out of paper. just google their website to check it out and get a free outhouse kit on their web site. I stumbled on it awhile ago and I just remebered it last night.

 

[scottcn]

As a side note. Paper Creek models does laser cut structures out of paper. just google their website to check it out and get a free outhouse kit on their web site.

Thanks Glen. I just downloaded the outhouse and will give that a try soon. With these paper models, I'm curious to see how they will handle our high humidity - I sure hope I don't have serious problems with warpage and such. With some of the walls on the scalescences.com model being made of a double layer of 2 mm thick card, I'm optimistic that there won't be too many problems. Not so sure with the Paper Creek model, which looks like it will just be printed on a sheet of heavy paper. We'll see....

Speaking of water damage, we had a mini flood due to a washing machine problem and have been spending time ripping off baseboards and the toeboards of our cabinets in an attempt to dry things out and keep mold from growing. We had a "professional" out yesterday and he said that things look pretty good; we just need to keep those dehumidifiers cranking for a while longer to really dry things out.

Anyway, I was able to finish the scalescenes freight shed this weekend (except for final weathering). I'm quite happy with the final product. My next card model will be better, but this turned out well for a first attempt. I'll try to take some pics and post them tonight.

- Scott

 

[Wabash Banks]

It has been a few days since I checked in on this thread. Great progress Galen! Good thing you cut down that butress thickness. I didn't have the foresight to do that.

Scott, sorry I haven't checked back in recently to answer your question. Yes, I will be starting it this week. I have the spray adhesive and hope to get it applied tonight.

 

[ocalicreek]

Scott - I too am curious/nervous about the humidity. Being that I model in my garage and live in SW Washington State, I really can't keep the humidity under control. It's just gonna be there. It's a different kind of wetness than the heat & humidity combo you're dealing with...I grew up in Florida so I know a bit about that too. Glad to hear you finished her off...share photos whenever you can.

I've put together that paper creek outhouse. A fun little project, but the printer I was using then wasn't half as nice as what we have now plus I didn't seal it so it has faded some...colors all went kinda green. The download will actually make two, I think. And it's only their recent (past couple years) stuff that's laser cut. The original product was all cut-by-hand.

So I'm on the last page. My long wall caps will be just fine - already got one installed. The buttress caps will just barely fit, but should look okay. However, I'm going to have to cut new base layers for the side wall caps. I'm going to finish it per instructions as best as I can, then begin any additional detailing.

I'm ready to git R done and move on to another project soon (my Mantua Shifter, more than likely). I will definately have a few suggestions for the designer - nothing major, but hopefully helpful to anyone else attempting this fun little beastie!

 

[D&Hp-burgh]

strength

For those of you that think that this model is a strong one your right. I was curious as to how much weight it would take. It placed a 2x4 on it and stood on it - NO DAMAGEsign1

 

[Wabash Banks]

I have got the sheets laminated to the stock. I didn't get anything else done and it will probably be Monday before I start posting photos. I will work on it over the rainy weekend but I won't have any way to post them.

 

[scottcn]

It placed a 2x4 on it and stood on it - NO DAMAGEsign1

Pictures, please! I want to see this!!!

- Scott

 

[ocalicreek]

...placed a 2x4 on it and stood on it - NO DAMAGE...

Was it assembled, or just printed out?

 

[Wabash Banks]

While my over laminated structure was really strong and could easily handle a 2X$ layont on it without damage, I would have done the thing in. Of course, D&Hp-burgh may have less mass than me too!

 

[scottcn]

As I posted sometime during the past week, I have finally finished this freight shed. Well, it's not weathered or detailed or anything, but all the pieces are glued together and I'm done with it for now.

From track side:


From the back side:


From the top:


Overall, I'm happy with the way it turned out. There are some things I would be more careful about next time:

1) I would cut out all the buttress and side wall pieces and make sure that everything is exactly the same height before doing any gluing. As my shed turned out, there were some slight differences in height of these pieces. When I assembled the shed, I made sure that everything lined up and the bottom and figured that the buttress caps would hide any slop at the top. Wrong! The buttress caps just sit on top of the buttresses and require a completely flat surface for best looks. I ended up trying to shave off the tops of the buttresses to make them smooth but this was difficult because the model was already assembled.
2) When cutting the heavy card, make sure that the cut edges are not beveled (i.e., hold the cutting blade straight up and down). I got better at this toward the end.
3) More patience. This includes taking more time to test fit pieces before gluing, sanding pieces to make them fit exactly, letting glue dry all the way before moving to the next step, and making sharp creases in the paper before folding it around a base layer. Yes, these are all basic things, but it had been 15+ years since I had done any modelling and I had forgotten the basics.

Now, to make a layout for the shed (and the trains, of course). I'm also thinking about scratchbuilding a passenger station using some of the lessons learned from this shed (but please (!!!) don't hold your breath waiting to see pictures of that project).

- Scott

 

[ocalicreek]

Great job, scottcn!

Scott - Thanks for your candor in sharing the lessons re-learned after your modeling hiatus, and congrats on 'completing' the structure. Please do keep us all posted when you get a layout going on which to place this little paper gem.

 

[steamhead]

That's a fine little freight shed...It's amazing what a lot of patience and skill can do with just paper and cardboard...Congrats to you both...!!! :thumb:

 

[ocalicreek]

more clamps and layers

Here are two more pictures. The first shows the clamps holding the outer loading dock to the building as it dries. I included this one just for the cool look at all the layers lined up and compressed together. The second shows how I installed the metal plate between the platforms. I needed to put this on a thin strip of card to raise it up a bit, for my taste. I also needed to touch up the edges of the outer dock a bit with markers to hide the white where I scored the folds a bit too deep.





Enjoy!

 

[ocalicreek]

The Door Track

Here's how I built the sliding door upper track. It's slightly different from scottcn's version, as I imagine it will be different from a few others. I say this because I don't think the instructions were all that clear at this point.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...mostly. One point - I ended up using a marker on the bottom edge of the door track...not an absolute necessity, but I felt it was. Also I colored the ends of the track where the white edge of the paper WAS showing.

Again, I'm not all that happy with the instructions for these steps, but I'm not displeased with the results. I don't think I assembled it the way the designer planned, but I couldn't figure out what he intended in the first place. I'll take a closer look at the example on the scalescenes site and see what it shows.

Anyway, here are the pictures.

 

[scottcn]

Thansk for the update Galen. I really like how your sliding door track came out. I especially like how the track "wraps" over the top of the door. The way I built mine, the track just rests on top of the door with enough friction to keep the door from falling over.

Looking forward to seeing what you did with the "black suitcase" (hatch) on the roof. One of my girls suggested that I cut a hole through the roof and then have the hatch propped open. I like that idea, but I had already glued the hatch to the roof and the roof to the building and didn't think it was worth the effort to make the change.

- Scott

 

[ocalicreek]

Looking forward to seeing what you did with the "black suitcase" (hatch) on the roof.

I'm thinking of putting a frame of stripwood around it and a wire handle or eye-bolt on one end. We'll see once I put the stripwood around it, I may decide it's fine as is.

I'll share a blunder here, since I'm in such good company. When I glued the cover layers on the roof base layer I got them all turned round, so the hatch above doesn't line up with the hatch printed beneath. But I doubt anybody is really going to be able to tell from peering up into the building through the doors.

However, I think this structure, with its printed interior, is a great candidate for interior lighting (as well as a nice pan light over the loading dock door and/or the rolling door). That'll come if/when it gets incorporated onto a layout. I ended up with an extra turnout from a recent trip to the hobby shop that I may not be able to return. If I have to use it, then perhaps this structure will be on it (along with a matching building kitbashed from the same material?) Check my layout thread in the future for that possibility...