9. Still quarantined, but making progress

Well, here we are in mid May with some quarantine rules lifted but the economy is still tanked. Some restaurants are open for limited seating and hopefully more will follow. Among honey-dos and outdoor projects, I have made some progress on the roundhouse. The front and rear walls are complete. A dry run was done to see how all the walls fit together as a unit with the floor and roof support assemblies. 

Next was to add some locomotives in the stalls to get an idea of how much room I will have for interior details. I added two Big Boys and a Challenger since they are the largest I have.

I'm still waiting on the embossed brick sheets to arrive. They're suppose to be here by the 25th - that's 9 days. I won't make any more progress until I decide what type of brick finish I'm going to use. So until then . . . keep your hand on the throttle and your eyes on the rail.

8. Quarantined progress

I was finally able to place the order for the basement windows. They should be done about the 10th of May and hopefully I'll get the installer to expedite the installation. I was told back in February they were 4 months behind for installation. In the meantime and after several rain storms, I was able to find the source of the water infiltrating the basement wall (a crack) and sealed it by spreading a coat of construction adhesive over the crack on the outside and after several more rain storms, wa-la! No more leaks. Thank God that was an easy and cheap fix!

Now as to the progress on the roundhouse, I am constructing the two roof support assemblies out of 1/4" basswood. My friend and fellow modeler (HOn3) John Scherr, did the drawings of all the walls and floor with his Cad program so the dimensional accuracy is no longer an issue. I was having great difficulty getting dimensions to come out correctly because, I think, of the inaccuracy of a small plastic protractor. Now I have perfect drawings to work from.

I first started construction by making the roof support assemblies. I distressed the basswood with a fine saw before coloring it with some black and burnt umber acrylic paint diluted with about 4 parts water. I then wiped off the paint to give it a lighter appearance. I placed a piece of wax paper over the drawing template so that any excess glue would not stick to the drawing.  Before installing them on the floor of the roundhouse, I will probably dry brush them with some gray paint to give them a more aged look. Both assemblies turned out identical in size thanks to the excellent drawings I had to work with.






After completing the roof support assemblies, I then tackled the 2 side walls. Again, using John's drawings, I laid out the template on a 12 x 24 inch sheet of .080 styrene. After transferring the outline for both sides to the styrene, I began the process of cutting them out. The windows were a killer to say the least. After drilling out the center portions, I cut away most of the remaining material with an exacto knife. I then fine tuned the edges with a nibbler. First time using it and it's a great tool. I then did a little filing to make a perfect fit for the windows. Next time, I will not drill out the centers, but instead drill 4 small holes near the inside corners of the window openings and then use a dremel and cut-off disc to remove the center mass. Then I will use the nibbler. Live and learn.

The final step was to install some .080 x 5/16" strip styrene around the edges. I'm not sure, but I think the 4 vertical pieces will represent concrete columns as opposed to brick. The majority of the structure will be brick but I am as yet undecided as to how it will be represented. My options include homemade decals using photos I took of a brick wall on a building at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, photo paper with printed brick, or embossed paper bumpy textured stone brick wall (at least that's what I ordered). Obviously there will be more to come on this topic.

                                 
Next up will be the construction of the front and rear walls, so stay tuned.