Lumberyard scene (cork foundation and road)

I wanted the lumberyard to be built on a dirt/gravel lot, with the track buried in it. I had previously lowered the level of the track down into the foam, but the height of the oversize tubular rails stuck up so much that I would have likely needed 3/16" of dirt/gravel/whatever to bury them (while still leaving a little bit sticking up for track cleaning). That meant I had to add another layer of something around the tracks to help take up that space.

While I was doing that, I realized I might as well do the same thing for the area where the entrance road would cross the tracks. I wanted as much elevation change as I could get on this layout, as New England is anything but flat. That meant I didn't want the road to hit the tracks and suddenly veer up at a steep angle to cross them. The road should be on raised foundation like the train tracks. 

When I previously marked the location of the road I drew it 25 scale feet wide, which seemed reasonable for a rarely used driveway. But when I set a 1:48 scale truck on it, it looked too wide for the scene. Instead of two narrow lanes, I instead cut the cork down a bit so that it was one overly-wide lane. That way, it wouldn't dominate the scene.

Using some 3/16" cork tiles I had on hand, I cut out two layers for the road's base. They were then glued in place with tacky glue and heavily weighted so that they would dry flat. They will later be topped with dirt and gravel. I later realized the road was still too wide so I trimmed it narrower again. After I add the slopes on the sides I think it will be perfect.

I used more 3/16" thick cork tiles to build up where the lumberyard would be. I quickly switched from tacky glue to clear latex caulk, which sped things up and did a better job filling in any gaps. Everything was pinned down using T-pins that by now were showing their age. 

I attached a piece of cork to the inside of the foundation to bring it up to the level of the road, but realized I wouldn't have enough room to slope it down. So I removed it. I will need to use my actual dirt/gravel to make the transition but at least I would have to sand down the cork into a slope.

I ran out of cork tiles pretty quick. I planned to go to the craft store to buy some but I have been so busy that I didn't have time. What I did have was some used O gauge cork that a friend gave me. Funny... six months ago I was lamenting the lack of cork roadbed anywhere and now I had it in abundance! I used parts that didn't have any paint or plaster on them to fill in the rest of the area.  

I even pulled out my small roller to help squish the caulk town into a flat layer. 

When I ran out of pins I had to call it a day. But the next morning I finished it up.

Then, most of it was painted brown. It goes on light brown, but dries a nice dark color that matches my real dirt perfectly. Naturally, I ran out of paint so it will have to do.

Finally, the structures were glued down with latex caulk. Hopefully they will pop right off if I ever need to remove them. 

I think I will need a lot of dirt to scenic this area, so I hope the weather warms up soon so I can go collect some.

Lumberyard scene (wooden perimeter fence)

My lumberyard needed a security fence around it, and it seemed only natural to build one out of wood instead of chain link material. The Atlas kit actually came with some plastic sections of wooden fence, but there wasn't enough of it, it had gaps between the boards, and it didn't look like wood. I could do better.

The first step was to plot out where the fence would go, as that would dictate the amount I needed to build. I plopped my three completed buildings in place and then used toothpicks and string to draw lines around them. My friend is a professional surveyor and to hear him talk you would think it is a tough job, but this was easy. The challenge is that the siding for the tank car is short, and to lengthen it more would severely cut into the space where the lumberyard office is. My metal yardstick helped measure the wall lengths.  

It was then time to build. Unfortunately, my supply of stripwood had just been decimated by the lumber shed project so I had to go to Hobby Lobby and look for suitable basswood. They had four packages of 1/16" x 1/4" stock, which in O scale is 3" thick by 12" wide. I bunched them together and used a square and scale ruler to mark out scale 8' long lengths. You can also see the molded Atlas fence in the picture.

My bandsaw and sixty seconds resulted in this:

They were roughly divided into three piles and dumped into bags containing three different ink and alcohol washes to weather them. 

After about an hour I set the boards aside to dry. 

I taped my yardstick to my workbench, and with a metal block on one end I started arranging boards. If they had a "good side" I generally put it facedown, as that would be the outer side once installed. I didn't force the boards together as a little airgap between them would prevent any expansion/contraction problems in the future. I also cracked and weathered a few boards for effect, but nothing serious as a lumberyard would quickly replace broken boards.

To make good contact while the glue dried I used more weights. I also gently squared up the tops while the weights were on, though I could only do it in small batches because the boards were lightweight and wanted to buckle up. 

The walls are framed with 1/8" x 3/16" wood, which is probably a bit overscale but I wanted my fences strong enough to survive an occasional bump. I didn't measure their location but simply put one on the top and another on the bottom. To secure their joints, I used wood toothpicks glued under the boards (to hopefully make them harder to see). 

I propped the wall sections in place temporarily and was pretty happy with them, so I pressed on.

Using a 0.7mm mechanical pencil and a straightedge, I embossed four nail holes in every board (I didn't bother doing the back fence). This amounted to 809 total nail holes. A friend showed me this technique and it works well, but it is tedious.

Next, I took more of the 1/8" x 3/16" wood and added taller fenceposts about every 15 scale feel along the inside of the wall. They were roughly flush with the top but extended about 1/2" below to get buried in the ground later on.

Finally, the walls were ready to be assembled at the corners. I had to line things up and use weights to hold them in position while the glue dried. There wasn't a lot of surface area for the joints so I had to be careful.

The attaching the fourth wall resulted in some of the earlier wall sections hanging in the air. Though they seemed to hold up fine, I thought it wise to support it with the only adjustable brace I could think of... a tape measure!

The last thing to do was set it on the layout and mark the locations where I need to drill holes for the fence posts. I may not do that after all... I might just cut them flush at the bottom and glue the fence down directly to the layout. But it's good to have options.

I still have to build the gates for both the road crossing and the railroad track entrances, but they will probably done in situ as I add the scenery.

Lumberyard scene (sales office)

Every lumberyard needs an office for the employees to rest, count money, process invoices, etc. So, my layout needed one too.

The office included in the kit looked more like a shop from a wild west town because of the false front. I suspect Walthers (and then Atlas) decided not to create the patterns and molds for a new building and instead repurposed some old tooling they had on hand. I couldn't live with it as is.

I first toyed with modifying a Lionel kit (#6-12273), another product from the 1970s MPC era that is still available today. I would ditch the platform and mount the structure on the ground, and perhaps cut back the front porch overhang. Easy enough. I even found an assembled kit for $10 at a train show but it was glued together and that would have made my project difficult. Unassembled kits are now selling online for about $40 delivered... way too much for what it is. 

Since the Atlas office just snaps together for easily assembly/disassembly I put it together just to see how bad it was. I looked at it from all angles and thought about cutting down the sides so that they were flat (the same height from front to back). But first I had remove the top of the front wall, because if that didn't fix it for me there was no point going forward. 

To match the horizontal trim along the top I added a strip of styrene. In less than two minutes, I liked it better and decided to press on. All four walls were then permanently assembled. The two large picture windows in the front aren't really something you would find in a lumberyard office, but I will live with them. 

If I wanted to install an interior I would need to add a floor. Interestingly, Atlas includes a base with a socket for a lightbulb which they provided. But that light would reveal an empty interior! So, I glued the four walls to the base and then cut away the middle portion where the light bulb socket was.

Next, I added 1/4" square styrene all around the bottoms of the walls. This reinforced the joints and raised the floor level which is important because the entry doors are several scale feet above the ground. Then I temporarily snapped on the roof and used a pencil to draw a line underneath on the insides of all four walls. That way, when I built new interior walls I wouldn't make them so tall as to interfere with the roof's fit.

The subfloor is a piece of 0.060" thick styrene that I roughly sized to drop it. Its corners were notched to get around those interlocking lugs. It isn't a perfect fit but it doesn't have to be. I will install four interior walls and then cut the final visible floor to drop between them.

The next step is unusual but one that is tough to address later on. Due to the nature of the kit, I wasn't sure exactly how tight the wall corner joints would be. If I was going to take the time to light it up, I didn't want the light to leak out of the joints. So I masked the upper portions of the walls that would be visible once the building was completed (entirely unnecessary, by the way) and then used black paint to coat the entire inside of the structure. Since I was going to later repaint the outside I wasn't concerned about any overspray.

I thought a better exterior paint scheme would go a long way towards making the office look good. I didn't want to use the same Rustoleum "Strawflower" yellow that was on the two other buildings. I also didn't want white, as I knew some of my other industries would be white. So what did that leave me? Maybe brown?

I painted the exterior walls a reddish-brown, but I didn't like that, so I repainted it more of a beige color (Rustoleum satin "Nutmeg", which I used on the larger storage bin's shelving units. The windows and doors were painted Rustoleum "Strawflower" yellow to match the other two buildings, giving them a unified look.

For the finished floor I was going to paint the styrene to look like linoleum but by chance I had a piece of scribed wood with 6" scale width boards which was the exact size I needed! And for a lumberyard, it was more appropriate anyway.

I used a knife and scribed end board joints along the way, mostly following a pattern. Then, everything was stained with my brown/black ink and alcohol wash. This caused the wood to warp a bit.

Before I glued the floor down I cut some new interior walls from 0.040" styrene. I had to angle the tops to match the roof profile, and cut out notches for any interference areas. I didn't bother with a front wall because it can't be seen while looking through the front windows. 

Then, I used lots of superglue gel and weights to attach the wood floor. Hopefully it will stay flat forever.

The new inner back wall was a bit more tricky as I had to install it around the window castings. Before I glued it in place, I painted around the windows because my any gaps would show brown instead of white.

Then the new wall was installed.

I used styrene strips to build up new "frames" around the windows and the door to hide the gaps. I think they look better now.

There are lots of great O scale 3D printed interior details, such as this complete office detail set, but I enjoy making stuff myself. I started with some bookshelves and a large filing cabinet (for company records) built from bits of styrene. I was cognizant of the fact that this will be viewed from several feet away and didn't go overboard.

Once painted and then loaded up with various bits and pieces of styrene, they looked pretty good.

My layout is set in Autumn so I thought a nice festive welcome mat would be a nice touch. Some black construction paper, a little craft paint, and several toothpicks and I had one. Unfortunately, from normal viewing angles it is impossible to see. Oh well.

Though much of my detailing won't be seen, I do it because I enjoy it. It is one of the reasons I switched from HO scale to O scale. But my work isn't being done to win awards. (PS: if you want to see some of my scratchbuilt models that did win NMRA Merit awards, look here).

The lumberyard is being named for my friend and O scale coconspirator, Peter Hansen. In real life, if he owned a business he would definitely have a train in his office. I spent an hour or so looking online at doll house trains, and even T-gauge 1:450 scale trains, before settling on a toy I got in a gift shop years ago. I filed down some details I didn't like, gave it a new paint scheme, and mounted it on top of the large filing cabinet.

I then realized that the office had no bathroom or utility room, which wouldn't do. So I took some styrene and formed an L-shaped wall that effectively turned one of the back corners into a "whatever you think is missing, it's in that room" area. The large white tabs on the bottom are to give more surface area to secure the walls to the floor.

Wires for the interior lighting were then run up into the utility room, thus justifying its existence.

After pondering how I was going to install the interior lights, I added a false roof which is secured on the sides by strips of styrene glued to the walls. Two holes were drilled in it, and then a pair of SMD 12-volt LEDs were taped down with loops in the wires for strain relief. 

For some more interior details, the desk was scratch built though the chair is a 3D resin casting from Pacific Northwest Miniatures that I found on Ebay. I hate bad looking figures and think they are worse than no figures at all, Woodland Scenics makes nicely painted ones. The sitting figure is part of set #A2759, though his feet had to be trimmed because the chair was too short. The standing guy in the front is from set #2741. I also found images of clocks and calendars online and scaled them to size, printed them out, and glued them to the walls. 

Most of the window glazing is the overly-thick clear acrylic provided in the kit, secured with tacky glue. However, for the rear side door I substituted thin microscope slide cover glass because it is possible to look through the front windows and see how thick the glazing was on the door. 

For the roof, I ditched the brick chimney which I felt was inappropriate for this building. I painted the underside white to match the interior wall color. Then, I applied strips of blue painter's tape to the upper surface look like tar paper. 

It was sprayed black and then weathered with various drybrushed acrylic paints. A small exhaust pipe was installed it over the utility room area. The roof slants away from the aisle and I am not sure if it will be visible, but I wanted it to look good anyway. 

I weathered the outside of the building with an oil paint wash of mostly dark brown and black. It wasn't heavy but it did settle into the various nooks and crannies. This building is well maintained as a matter of pride so I didn't go crazy. 

The sign on the front of the building was a decal custom made for me by Bill at Precision Design Company, who has helped me in the past with other projects. I didn't want the lettering to look "too new", or "too old", so we settled on a font and style that would probably be appropriate from the 1960s to the 1980s. I applied it to a piece of styrene that I painted brown and then attached to the front. 

Unfortunately, there is a slight wavy line in the bottom that I was caused during the application process and I couldn't get it out, and when I tried a second decal it was worse. The lines are just too thin and long and I am not a great decal person. It is very pronounced in the close-up shot but from two feet away you don't even notice it. 

With that, this structure was complete. I still have one more thing to build and then the lumberyard scene can start to come together.