Chemical Dealer scene (steel warehouse, part 1)

I still haven't decided what my industry will be but I am leaning towards a propane distributor that takes in fuel by train and ships it locally by truck. But that doesn't matter yet because whatever I model my building will be the same.

I decided to work on the large steel office building first because to me that is the most important part of the scene. I can always make smaller or larger storage tanks or support structures but this building will firmly plant my layout in the "modern" era. Even my wife commented that scratchbuilding it would be nice as it would make my layout distinctive because there are no O scale structures like it offered commercially. In HO and N scales, Pikestuff makes lots of great buildings that can be easily modified. But not in O scale. That's okay... I love scratchbuilding. 

My first step was to see if anyone made O scale corrugated steel sheeting because I would need it for the walls. It turns out that Plastruct does (item #PS-24) in 7" x 12" sheets. They also make Corrugated Rib Roofing sheets (#PS-16) too. I have never seen them in a hobby shop before so I ordered them online. 

I also needed window and door castings. Tichy and San Juan Details (formerly Grandt Line) make some stuff in O scale, but nothing suitably "modern". Plastruct had some available but they didn't look like they would work either. Online inquiries resulted in several "just 3D print them" responses which didn't help me. 

After scrolling through the Pikestuff website for ideas, I sketched up a building roughly 7.5" wide and 15" long, and about 4.5" tall. I used wall height dimensions from an HO scale Pikestuff kit in my stash. I then mocked it up with posterboard so that I could fiddle with it. I glued pictures of several of their kits on the sides for handy references. This was very helpful.

I decided to go with a one-level structure, with walls that were tall enough to permit a vehicle access door on the side. I went this route because a smaller building probably wouldn't support rail service, whereas a taller one implies a larger industry.

Then, I started drawing it up on 0.060" thick styrene. My lines kept coming out wonky and I switched marker colors several times before I discovered the cause of it all... my red plastic T-square wasn't actually square! I was given it as a gift and never used it before, but after this fiasco I bent it up and threw it away. 

The walls were laid out again using a better square and steel ruler. The roof peaks are just intersecting diagonal lines.

One end has some windows and a door which I marked but didn't cut out yet, as I was waiting until I had the castings and corrugated siding in hand.

For the plain steel doors I made four from styrene. I only need three, but it made sense to have extras. They only took about 15 minutes of work to lay them out and cut the window openings. 

Once everything was cut apart, I had four doors. Doorknobs will be added later. I also laminated multiple pieces of rectangular styrene with slight gaps between them to look like a roll-up garage door. I later discovered it came out a little wonky but not too bad.

The window openings were started with a 1/2" drill and finished with a nibbler tool. 

An assortment of files and custom cut filing sticks fit into all of the small openings.

It is best practice to not cut the openings for the windows until you have the castings in hand. They sometimes vary a little from their published dimensions (if you are lucky enough to have their dimensions), and it is difficult to fill in an oversize opening. But the windows I needed would be scratchbuilt so it wasn't a problem for me.

The large garage door opening was cut with a knife and the door was glued in from the back. The steel doors were attached to the front.

The end walls were braced on the sides with 1/4" square styrene, which provided lots of surface area to join the corners. I use a lot of 1/4" square styrene and always have it on hand. It might be overkill for bracing, but I don't like warpage. I later realized I had glued the braces onto the wrong side of the end wall (outside instead of inside), so I had to use it as is. Since I had already glued a door to the outside (now inside) of the wall, and I couldn't move it, I had to use the extra fourth door to correct my mistake.

The wall with the garage door started to warp, no doubt because of the various cuts and glue-ups that had been done to it. I planned to run horizontal braces along the top and bottom of the wall, as well as one at the top of the garage door, to strengthen it all up. However, the garage door's 0.060" thickeness made it stand proud of the inside of the wall, so all my braces needed an extra 0.060" too. I had some 0.060" strips that were 1/4" wide and I first glued them where my braces would go. I didn't bother to measure the exact spot.

Then, 1/4" square braces were glued in place along the very bottom of the structure and at the top of the door. I left everything to cure for a couple of hours.

As I built it up into a rectangle I discovered that by gluing the exterior doors in place I had made it more difficult for the entire wall to lay perfectly flat on my workbench while adding the bracing. So, I had to get creative and have parts overhang or add temporary supports underneath the walls the same thickness as the doors (0.040") to get it all to work. But that is how most of my projects go! In the future, I will glue the exterior doors on after I have built it up into a rectangle.

Homemade corner braces (use a square to ensure that they truly are 90 degrees) with the corners notched to clear the braces were extensively added to the joints. I didn't have them up near the top where they might interfere later when gluing down the roof.

I then broke out the Plastruct #91519 corrugated sheet and got to work. There appears to be a side that is a little flatter than the other so I decided this would be the "inside surface" and ran a pencil back and forth on it to mark it. I then trimmed all the edges to make sure they were truly parallel with the corrugations as it doesn't come from the factory that way.

I clamped a piece to the front of the building and traced the window openings from the back. They were opened up with a sharp chisel blade, and it is important to err on the side of making the openings too small. I fine tuned them to shape by constantly putting the siding on and off to check how things were. They will recieve final adjustments when I am ready to install the windows. 

Before I glued it on I did one more thing. I drilled lots of tiny 11/64" holes (that bit happened to be lying around) in the side of the building's styrene core walls. Don't drill holes where the interior braces are. This step is very important when laminating textured surfaces to a styrene core, as it is difficult to get enough of the plastic cement onto the center of the wall to make a good bond before it flashes off. So, I focused on gluing the edges on, and later went back and applied cement from the inside through those holes. I saw that trick in a British modeling magazine and it works a treat. 

To attach the corrugated material I first clamped it in place along the top, and then applied MEK along the bottom and gently held it in position. A minute later I removed the clamps and glued up both sides, finally finishing at the top. 

Due to the width of my building, I had to use several pieces to span the long sides. I cut it a little oversize along the top and then trimmed it flush later once the glue cured.

Once done, I set it on my layout to see how it fit the space. I liked it. Notice that the back wall has no interior bracing, as I ran out and had to order more. This set my project back a week.

I used Evergreen #156 (0.060 x 0.125) strips to frame along the roof edges, as well as add some vertical support beams. I am not sure if they are structural, or hide part of the gutter system, but I liked the look of them. The ones along the top gave me nice smooth lines to mount the roof styrene too, which was important as otherwise there would be gaps caused by the corrugations. Naturally, I ran out when doing the back wall and had to order more.

To be continued...

Chemical Dealer scene (overview)

My favorite freight car has always been the tank car. At one time they were the most common style of car found on a railroad. Therefore, I wanted a place to spot tankers on my layout. Ideas of fuel dealers, propane dealers, and chemical suppliers were considered. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of trackage or adjacent real estate to model something big.

A team track idea was dismissed, as I wanted a dedicated facility. However, I might do a team track on the left side of the layout though. An old-timey tank car mounted on stilts such as this Life Like kit below was also a no-go. 

Walthers/Atlas makes a nice kit (#6908) of a fuel dealer but it looked too dated for what I wanted, and it doesn't come with a lot of stuff in the box. It has two small tanks, one small shed, and one small shack. Honestly, most O scale kits are undersized and I don't fault Walthers/Atlas for this because they are also aimed at the 0-27 market. But for my true scale layout, I wanted something bigger. Besides, this sells for $80+ bucks online which is a lot for what you actually get in the box.

So I cast a larger net and came across a picture in a Boston and Maine RR Historical Society video of a Suburban Propane dealer (here, at the 26:36 mark) that was more modern and what I was thinking of. One or two large horizontal tanks, one large steel structure, and then an area for trucks to load. Now, how to fit it in my space?

My siding will hold a scale 40' tank car and clear the track to the lumberyard, but a 45' car won't fit and a 50' tank car extends onto the switch. But that is okay. It probably happened in real life too. Besides, most of the time my cars will just sit on display on the layout and not get switched anyway. 

I looked at satellite pictures of the local Suburban Propane office here in Albany and I got some ideas. The old railroad spur is still there (though it is now disconnected from the mainline and covered with propane tanks). There are several modern buildings, which I likely can't model all of. And my facility won't be a perfect match for it. But it was a start.

At the onset I decided to not force too much into the scene. After building my lumberyard I realized that I can't cram everything in or it will become jumbled. There isn't a lot of room for "negative space" in O scale, so I need to factor it in at the start. Forcing stuff in was one of the biggest reasons why my previous HO layout was unsatisfying. See this great post from Marty McGuirk on the topic.

To help me visualize what I could fit into the area I made a mockup of a modern steel building using some posterboard. I also printed out the dimensions of the Plastruct horizontal propane tank kit (#O3019). It fit okay but it was a bit too large and even my wife commented that the tanks were too close to the lumberyard. So I retreated from that idea. Hmm... what should I build then? Without exactly knowing, I pressed on

To prepare the foundation for the building I glued down a layer of cork roadbed. It took forever, and also burned through my supply of used cork that a friend gave me, so in the future I will need to look into something else that is the correct thickness but a lot quicker to install. Maybe... you know... sheet cork? A coat of brown latex paint was brushed on and I had a nice, clean area to work with. 

I decided the tank car siding was still too long so I trimmed off another inch from the end. Then, I took some Brennan's cinder ballast (Railyard Black) and ballasted the sidings including the track leading to the lumberyard. For the tank car siding I mostly kept it cinders because I assume the N.E.N.R. will perform at least some maintenance on any track that will be traveled by tank car carrying hazardous liquids. For the lumberyard siding I mixed more ground foam weeds and dirt in the mix. Both tracks will eventually get static grass and tufts. It looks a royal mess while it is wet, but dries okay.

Note: I discovered I didn't properly caulk one of the holes under the track from when I wired it and I had a muddy, gluey pond beneath my layout when I came back the next morning. Lots of wet paper towels got it all cleaned up up (it wouldn't have been very easy if I had used matte medium instead of white glue) but it reminded me to double-check everything before going to bed.

For the tank car track bumper, I looked at various brands but settled on an Atlas O product. Most of them had lights, or working springs, or are overbuilt to actually stop a runaway Lionel train. I wanted something that was realistic, but even the Atlas one needed some modifications. I trimmed off unnecessary plastic between the sides which snaps onto the rail, and slimmed down the center buffer part itself. (You can see the before and after below). Then it was painted, weathered and glued in place. It definitely won't stop a runaway Lionel GG1 from crashing into the lumberyard though!

Now I just need to build an actual industry for the siding. And I still don't know what it will be.

A visit to Model Rail Scenes and the WW&F in 2021

Several years ago I saw an advertisements for Model Rail Scenes, a company that custom builds train layouts. They seemed to focus mainly on three rail O scale layouts, and their work was realistic and evocative of New England scenery. At the time, I decided that if I ever did build an O scale layout I would want mine to focus on the northeast. So I called the owner, Brian Inch, just to talk about basic layout concepts and such. I wasn't planning on hiring him to build a layout for me, but he models things I haven't seen elsewhere and I wanted to pick his brain. He did one better, and invited me to visit his showroom and talk with him in person. Great!... except he was 330 miles away in Augusta, Maine. 

I also had a desire to revisit the WW&F Railway in Alna, Maine. I am a lifetime member of the railroad organization but hadn't been there in person since 2017. 

With these two Maine destinations in my mind I just decided to go for it. The pandemic was a still a big thing at that time and I had a lot of free time. My daytrip was on a Saturday and in 11+ hours I covered almost 700 miles. I woke up early and left the house at 6:00 AM exactly. I arrived back home at 10:45 PM. But, aside from waiting in line for over 2 hours at Red's Eats for a fried chicken sandwich (which sadly I found out they were out of when I got to the front of the line!) it was a good day. Below are some pictures from my trip.

Brian's workshop display layout is 10x16', and there is a lot packed in it. It is considered an "island" style layout in that you can walk completely around it. I really liked his dock scene.

This bridge took up a lot of space but it wasn't forced into the scene, and that is what made it so realistic. Many bridges are shoehorned in by builders who want add them just because they look good without giving thought to whether the rest of the scenery would demand such a bridge be built there.

The center area is part of his old display layout that I actually saw at the Springfield, MA train show a couple of years ago. Even the tree-covered forests look good and they aren't those cheap "puff ball trees" that everyone seems to like to build.

Around the layout area were display shelves filled with O scale trains that would have run on railroads in Maine. It was inspiring to see. Brian told me he did a lot of custom painting to get the trains he wanted.

Another interesting view.

After we talked for a while, I said goodbye and drove to the WW&F Railway. They were running multiple trains which required passing each other at the station stop in Alna Center. More picture of my visit can be found here.

As part of my NMRA Master Model Railroader program, I scratchbuilt an On2 model of T.C.D.A. #65. While in town, I set my own boxcar next to the real thing in Wiscasset, ME. and took a picture. 

It was a great day and I had fun talking with Brian and riding the WW&F. What I didn't realize was that my journey into O scale would begin so soon after visiting. 

Rolling Hills

With a steady supply of dirt now in hand I decided to work on some more scenery. To get my feet wet, I first did the area between the tracks on the passing siding. I focused mostly on dirt and bushes and less on grass, though static grass and clumps will come in the future. 

Then, I turned my attention to the front edge of the layout. New England scenery is anything but flat and I wanted to add a few hills and dips to reflect this. So, I picked up a piece of 1" thick green extruded foam and broke out my hot wire tool that I got for Christmas. Finally, I could use it! 

I didn't have a lot of room and I didn't want to model the Alps so I just shaved small pieces here and there to look like rising mounds of earth. I am not sure what I was expecting but the process turned out to be a bit of a letdown. Even with the heat cranked to full it wasn't terribly quick, and the cutter blade just seemed to bog down here and there. And talk about spiderwebs after... something I never saw on the Youtube videos I watched. After some online research I think I might have had the temperature too hot, so I will experiment with that in the future.

In the past, I would just heavily layered on ground goop (sometimes up to a 1/2" thick) to make my terrain undulations. It took days to dry and would sometimes crack during the process but it worked well. This foam should work better but I have to experiment more. In the end, I got some pieces that were usable and I glued them down with caulk. 

One other note: it smells like burning plastic (because it is) and I had a fan constantly blowing on my workbench while I did it. The smell didn't bother me because it reminded me of the time my father took me to work with him at Kodak and we toured the plant where they melted the plastic pellets to make disposable cameras (remember those?). I fondly remember the trip and associate the smell of burning plastic with that... but it isn't for everyone!

The next day I mixed up a batch of Ground Goop and went over them to blend them in more. The recipe for Ground Goop is found here. This time, I used some advice I found online and mixed it up in half of a cheap basketball. The theory is that after it dries you can crack out the dry remainder and use the ball again for a bowl. That didn't work... but I only paid a dollar for the ball so no real loss.

If you make the goop too thick it is hard to spread, and if you make it too thin it runs everywhere. The magic sweet spot is hard to find, but this time I changed techniques and used a cheap chip paintbrush to spread it out. That allowed me to put it where I wanted it and maneuver it where it had to go. It worked great, much better than my gloved hands or metal spatula.

I went up and down the mounds, including a small one wedged between some tracks. I didn't carve out anything below track grade on this layout section but certainly will for others.

When I ran out of goop I just kept brushing the remains of the bowl onto the foam to give me a base color and adhesive layer.

Then, on went real dirt. I didn't use my superfine stuff but instead went with the next step courser, which included very tiny pebbles and lumps. For O scale, this looks pretty good (the fine stuff is best for N and HO scale).

Added next were three colors of "fine" Woodlands Scenics turf (bright green, dark green, green blend). 

Finally, I pulled out all the stops with course turf in various colors, different bushes from several manufacturers like Woodlands Scenics and Scenic Express, and other such stuff. The greenier... the better. I am modeling fall when scenery is lush again after summer droughts but some is just starting to turn brown and die off.

The full kitchen sink was used...

For variety, I also embedded some real rocks and pebbles that I had baked in the oven along with the dirt. I even included one rock from my previous D&H layout... just to keep that alive a bit.

A healthy dose of white glue and water was necessary to keep the larger bushes in place. Then I set up a fan to blow on the layout and went to bed. And thankfully, no leaks were underneath the layout the next morning when I checked. Yay!

I'm pretty happy with the results.

The front of the layout will look a bit untidy until I install the fascia boards, but that is a long time away.

This fall, I plan to process and grind up real leaves to use as ground cover (essentially for modeling fall in New England) and also add static grass. Until then, it looks more like spring on my layout. That's okay though. I think it's pretty.

Processing real dirt

As scenery progressed I ran out of dirt and needed a lot more. I use real dirt that I dig it up and process at home. The process is described here, and must be done outdoors so nice weather is required. 

So, in March I dug some up from my "secret place" and baked it in the oven at 350 for an hour. Some people skip this step but I can't understand why. I certainly wouldn't want living organisms growing on my layout. I used cheap disposable aluminum pans from the dollar store for this. Dirt is heavy, so set them on a cookie sheet for support.

Because of the uncooperative weather we had, the dirt sat for nearly four months until a nice weekend came along in late June when I could use three different sized sieves to filter it. You need to scrape the blobs of dirt against the screen to grind them into a powder, while tossing the actual rocks out. This part absolutely needs to be done outdoors as it makes a mess and dirt blows everywhere, and the fine dirt dust creates a haze that fills the air. Don't do it when it is windy either.

My sieves are small but adequate for the job. I would love to find appropriately sized mesh screen and build some frames out of wood to increase the amount I can process at once, but I haven't found a place that sells small quantities of wire mesh. Something like this, with much finer mesh, would be great.

The result is superfine dirt, and then essentially three sizes of rocks (which might include of balls of dirt that didn't break up during the sifting process). I store it all in cheap containers from the dollar store. 

I don't use the rocks much, but I use a lot of the dirt as that is the base layer of my scenery. And now that my supply has been refilled, I can work on some more scenery projects.