In-ko-pah RR: The Dos Manos Depot

[John Everett]

Those will be invisible when the building is done. Have a look at Home Depot's paint department for JB Weld Qwik-Plastic. I think they still carry it.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this one progress.

Will it have an interior? It's bigger than a barber shop, but would require less DPSI (detail per square inch).

[Ray Dunakin]

John, I've checked Home Depot and all the other local hardware stores, none have JB Weld Kwik Plastik anymore. But the JB Weld "Water Weld" looks to be the same stuff, and the label lists the same characteristics. My guess is they decided to rename it for marketing reasons. I've seen that happen before with other products.

The depot will be less than a foot from the "edge" of the layout, right next to the walkway and about three feet above the level of the walkway. So it will definitely need some kind of interior. The west wing (baggage area) has only a couple of small windows so I won't have to do much in there. The central part is where the details will be, but probably just on the ground floor. I'm thinking the second floor windows will have curtains.

Building an interior for this structure presents a bit of a challenge… it's the first major building I've done that is exposed on all four sides. Except for the jail, and an abandoned stone cabin, all my other buildings have their rear walls up against a cliff, and many of them have one or more sides obstructed by adjacent buildings. On those, I could leave the rear wall undetailed, and make it removable. Then the interior was in a three-sided box that slides out the back.

Not only is the depot exposed on all sides, it also has windows that will permit at least some visibility through the structure. My plan is to build the interior in a box that slides up into the building from below, and will be secured with screws. I'm still figuring out exactly how to put this together in a way that makes it easy to apply paint and details to the inside.

[Leon]

Nice work on the joints Ray!

[Ray Dunakin]

I wanted some of the stones to stand out from the wall, to give it more dimension. To do this, I start by gluing thin slices of Sintra to a few random stones. Then I use a hobby knife with a new, sharp #11 blade to carve them. Here are a couple before and after shots:











Here's the finished wall:






I won't do this to the rest of the walls until after I've added on the east wing.

[TRM]

Just amazing to watch unfold! Top notch work Ray!

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks, T

[Leon]

Really enjoying watching your buildings take shape Ray.

[John Everett]

You're right with the interior unit done separate from the exterior shell. In fact, I think this will present a smaller problem than you imagine. Your experience with "removable rooms" will transfer easily here. It will be one big room which inserts from the bottom rather than several smaller rooms from the side.

What I'm wondering is if you plan to attempt a tile roof? Now that would really be something at G scale!

[Ray Dunakin]

Yes, I am planning to do Spanish tile on the roof. I did some before on my Hotel Torgo, and made them individually out of pieces of styrene tube. However that building required only a few hundred, and this depot will need a lot more. So I'm thinking I might try making a mold so I could cast several tiles at a time.

[Ray Dunakin]

Because this depot will sit so close to the "edge" of the layout, a detailed interior is a necessity! However, this is the first building I've made with an interior that is also visible from all four sides. Previous structures had the rear wall against a cliff, allowing me to make that wall removable. (It also cut down on the amount of exterior detailing!) The interiors could be built into a box that slides out the back of the building.

On the depot, the interior box has to be accessible from below. Not a big deal but it does complicate things a bit. For one thing, the way I make and install the windows, they extend into the building slightly. So the box has to clear the windows and avoid damaging the shades/curtains.

I built a recessed rim and spacers in the main structure. The rim creates an overlapping seal to help keep out moisture, as well as giving me something to put the screws into that will be used to secure the interior. Here's a view from the underside:




And here's a view from the top. I haven't installed the spacer on the wall at right yet, because I'm debating whether or not to add a window to that wall:




Here's the box which will contain the interior. The ceiling is removable and held in place with small screws:








Here's a shot of the underside of the building, with the box temporarily installed. For this shot I only used two screws, instead of the six that will eventually be used:




Note that the floor of the west wing (baggage/freight area) is also removable. This room will not have interior details.


Here's a shot looking down from the top. The second floor windows will have closed curtains, eliminating the need for detailing the second floor. Only a light will be installed there, to shine through the curtains:




As you can see, I've also installed the bracing for the roof of the west wing, and will soon add bracing for the main roof:

[wbill76]

Now that's a neat modular concept to allow you to have good structural integrity and work on the interiors separately. Nice!

[Ray Dunakin]

The depot sits between two tracks, and one of the tracks curves inward a bit. To accommodate the reduced clearance, I had to taper the east wing on the south side:




Because the east wing is an odd shape, I decided to go with a flat roof and parapet, rather than a peaked roof. I feel this will also give the building more visual interest, and I've seen photos of a couple prototype, mission-style depots that had a flat roof on one end. I put together a mockup of the east wing and taped it to the model to see how it will look:






Before I start cutting up Sintra, I'd like to hear what others think of this design for the east wing.

[deafpanzer]

WOW! It is taking its shape... looking forward to more!

[John Everett]

I like the idea of an offset wall. Odd shapes always add interest to a building. And your reason for doing it here is sound.

If you think the flat roof will meet your needs, then go for it. But it might be a nice chance to incorporate a barrel vault or other unusual shape if you think the build wouldn't be too complex.

If you're going to go flat, why not metal roofing material, asphalt shingles or some other interesting surface feature?.

[k1w1]

Nice work. Still most impressed with your stone work. Also like the style of this building. Looking forward to seeing it progress.

[Prop Duster]

A lot of comments and words come to mind, but   seems to cover for all of them.

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks guys. I had to set everything aside for a while to catch up on some 1:1 stuff, but I'm back at it now and hope to have an update pretty soon.

[Ray Dunakin]

About a year ago I found a sheet of 13mm Sintra in the cutoff bin at a local plastics dealer, and I've been holding onto it ever since. I decided to use this to make the arched walls of the passenger waiting area. I don't know if it's because this stuff was old, or what, but it was quite a bit harder than the 6mm stuff I've been using, and was kind of a pain to work with. I had to use a jigsaw to cut it. I also found it more difficult to scribe. It might have been easier if I'd just laminated two sheets of 6mm Sintra together, to get the required thickness. Anyway...

After cutting it out, I taped the plugs from the arches in place temporarily, to hold a pushpin marking the center of the arch. Then I scribed the stones around the arch, using a small metal ruler as a guide:




When I'd finished scribing the stones on the face of the wall, I used a special tool to continue the mortar lines around the corners onto the edges of the arches. This was just an X-Acto knife, with the edge of the blade ground flat:






Here is the exterior side of the wall. It is complete except for some details that will be added after assembly. As you can see, I have changed the shape of the wall's top edge from the original design:




Here's the interior side of the same wall. When I shot this photo, I still had to scribe a few more lines near the top. On the left end, there was no need to include all the scribing since that is where the adjoining wall will be glued to this one:




That's all for now. I still have two more walls to do for this part of the depot.

[John Everett]

The arched curves are just beautiful through here. The detail on the interior surface tells me that you're planning to have this as the open space you mentioned earlier.

Any solid ideas yet about how you will do the roof?

[Ray Dunakin]

It'll be a flat roof, slightly sloped towards the end away from the main structure.

[Leon]

Beautiful work Ray! Love the arches.

[Ray Dunakin]

I forgot to mention something in my previous post… When I designed the walls of the waiting area, I used a drawing program to create simple templates. These were printed onto paper, cut out, and then traced onto the Sintra:




After texturing both sides of the north and south walls, I glued them to the main structure. The joint was not perfect, especially on the angled, south, wall, so there was an uneven gap at the joints. I filled these gaps with JB Weld's "Water Weld" epoxy putty, taking care to press it firmly into the gap. After it set, I sanded it down, and then scribed it to match the walls. Here are before and after shots of the north wall, followed by the south wall:











Here's how the whole thing looks so far:






The base of the waiting area is removable. I scribed 1/2" squares on the floor to represent terra cotta tiles:




Small stainless steel screws hold the base of the waiting area in place. The base can be removed for painting, and for easy access to the waiting area interior:




Here's a shot of the end wall in progress. I have to align the stone courses to match those at the corners of the north and south walls:




That's all for now. Hope you're all having a great Thanksgiving!

[Leon]

Making really good progress Ray! The assembled building looks fantastic.

[John Everett]

I love the tile floor you've scribed. Be sure to crack and wear at least a couple of tiles nearest the best viewing angles.

[Prop Duster]

Nov 27, 2015 0:12:59 GMT -5 John Everett said:

I love the tile floor you've scribed. Be sure to crack and wear at least a couple of tiles nearest the best viewing angles.

As an addendum to John's ideas, you might consider a or some cracked tile(s) with the missing piece replaced by an ?asphalt, cement?? patch; From the "Just-get-it-repaired-we-can't-afford-to-retile-the-whole-floor" school of Bean Counting for Profit.

[Ray Dunakin]

Another update!

Previously, I had added some protruding stones on the west end wall. These were made by gluing thin strips of Sintra to random stones, then carving them. But I had to hold off on giving the rest of the building this treatment until I'd finished the east wing. Well, now that is done, so I added the protruding stones to all the walls. Here are a few shots, with the first one showing the strips prior to carving:








Next I made the balconies that will be on the north and south sides of the depot. These were made from pieces of 6mm and 4mm thick Sintra. The following two photos show the underside of the balcony, so you can see how the 4mm layer was cut at an angle:






Next I added the roof to the west wing, and to the center section of the depot. I still have to do the roof on the east wing. I also began construction of the bay window:




And here are a few shots of the depot as it currently looks, temporarily in position on the layout. Sometime soon, before I get much further with the construction, I need to fill in the gap in the foundation around the base of the building:










That's all for now. Thanks for watching!

[John Everett]

Yeah! How do you handle gap? Real concrete and pull the building free before it sets?

I love the way you've done protruding stones. I wouldn't have thought to do this.

[Ray Dunakin]

Dec 4, 2015 0:28:28 GMT -5 John Everett said:

Yeah! How do you handle gap? Real concrete and pull the building free before it sets?

Basically, yes. I'll probably wrap the base of the structure with several layers of masking tape, and then coat the masking tape with petroleum jelly, to prevent the concrete from sticking to it.

[Leon]

Beautiful work Ray! The protruding stones look great.

[TRM]

Just superb Ray!! Bet you're glad to see the stone complete! Next up, windows and doors or roof? Keep up the fine work!!