Locomotive shed update

There has been some changes to how I've constructed the loco shed. Previously I had been constructing the shed bay by bay, unfortunately this meant the structure was not strong enough along its length to be self supporting. If I'd built it from the base up it may have worked, but this would have slowed up construction much more and brought with it other issues. A rethink, and a restart of the project was required.

So the new version has a top and bottom rail that runs the length of the building, thus meaning each of the four sides can be constructed on the plan separately then joined together. The resulting sides are much stronger and we're faster to build. I moved on to the roof trusses and made up a simple jig to hold them all in the correct  alignment.

 The four sides have been glued together, and can be seen here set on the baseboard, but not fixed down yet. I still need to build up the ground to sleeper height, and add the inspection pit.

I tried using a new product from Riot Craft stores for the floor of the shed. It is an acrylic paste with a fine texture in it. My thought was to then add some paint on this surface as the floor of the shed.

You can see in these few photos how I've put down the floor of the shed. I've left the edges free of the flooring so that the base of the walls sit on the balsa base. The rails are contained within the flooring and the surface slopes down away from the rails so that locos can run into the shed without the risk of not running back out.

 The paint of the floor is called blue bitumen from Modellers Warehouse. This paint really goes along way with plenty of coverage from a small amount, well done Dave!

I've installed the buffer stop that I had located on the end of this siding, and as in the

plan it's half in/out of the shed.

You can see here the main structure mounted on the base. From here it was onto glueing on the corrugated iron. Not a favourite job of mine that's for sure.

Here's a progress shot to show how I've glued the sheets on.

The shed has been set on the layout and I've begun the landscaping around it. This has been a longer build than I expected, but I'm happy with how it's come together. Those of you who've read previous posts would have seen this area with completely different buildings on it. Well I am much happier with this current arrangement and it was in my original plan.

That's about it for today,

Have a great week!

Oorroo!

Geoff.