E.J. Scudder Foundry & Machine Company

[DKS]

I made a quick trip back to the factory to get some views of the back, while there were no leaves. It was a challenge to see anything, as there's a fence along the alley, and it's lined with storage containers, shelves, piles of debris and other obstructions. Here are a few of the best shots I could manage.







I made the single-story addition from the State Line Farm Supply kit walls, with end walls cobbled together from scraps of brick to more or less emulate the odd detailing of the actual building.



This part of the building had a full height chimney, which I made from the end pilasters of the Allied Rail Rebuilders side walls. I'd slice off four of them at 45 degrees, and since the ends were already 45 degrees, four of them bonded together made a perfect chimney.



This whole portion of the building is such a kludge that I had to make each part to fit, one at a time, and assemble it piece by piece.





After completing the back walls and additions, the rest of the building materialized quite quickly.







Next up, the roof. I intend to deviate from the real building substantially in this department, as I don't have the raw materials to represent the actual roof types used.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Beautiful kit bashing going on here David. Looks really good thus far.
Rod.

[Philip H]

Next up, the roof. I intend to deviate from the real building substantially in this department, as I don't have the raw materials to represent the actual roof types used.

@David K. Smith - what do you need? i'm sure there are scrap boxes and parts bins open to you all over TRW.

[DKS]

@David K. Smith - what do you need? i'm sure there are scrap boxes and parts bins open to you all over TRW.

Thanks, but I've got it covered (no pun intended). I actually prefer the alternatives I've found over what exists on the real building.

[DKS]

No pics for me at all after several refreshes.

If you still can't see pics, visit: http://davidksmith.com/modeling/challenge-3.htm

[DKS]

The roof is really slow going. Each part must be carefully cut and shaped to fit the complex geometries around pilasters, chimneys, corners and other features. I wound up making nearly half of the parts twice, and a couple took three tries. I started with the extension on the rear, using DPM tarpaper roof parts.



Then I turned my attention to the pair of long extensions. I used Vulcan kit parts—they provided the best aesthetics, and were also the easiest to adapt, which makes sense.



This little bit took an entire day, and I'm ready for a break.

[chicken45]

Will all that still fit on your hand?

[wm3798]

Among residential draftspeople, I've come to be known as the "Roof Whisperer"...  I've designed some doozies. 



Of course, my only formal training for this work is the construction of countless N scale buildings.  Here's a hint you probably already thought of...

Cardboard templates.  Better than "Measure twice cut once"...  Literally, measure as many times as you must, cut as many mistakes as you like, then when you finally have a piece of cheap cereal box that fits, go back and template it onto the more precious styrene to fabricate your roof.

Lee

[DKS]

Here's a hint you probably already thought of...

Cardboard templates.  Better than "Measure twice cut once"...  Literally, measure as many times as you must, cut as many mistakes as you like, then when you finally have a piece of cheap cereal box that fits, go back and template it onto the more precious styrene to fabricate your roof.

Thanks, Lee, I use cardboard templates often as well. But they're most useful for establishing the shapes required to form odd angles and peaks, such as in your photo example, as opposed to determining the irregular edges required to fit precisely around pilasters and such, which involve shaping the material accurately down to a few thousandths. I screwed up parts because of problems like shaky hands, as opposed to inaccurate measurements.

This is what I'm talking about:



It took a couple of tries to cut these shapes with the precision required for a perfect fit.

Getting old sucks.
 

[DKS]

When I went back to work on the roof, I tackled with the main building. In order to cover the area, I had to piece together sections of corrugated roofing from the original Vulcan kit, and knowing I couldn't do this seamlessly, I cut strips and joined them using a sheet of paper to offset them slightly, thereby suggesting courses of roofing.



I saved the best for last—the office roof, because I knew this would be the most enjoyable part to make. When this was done, I added gutters, chimney caps and exhaust vents, which brought the project to the point of being ready for a foundation.

[Chris333]

Boom goes the dynamite.

[Mark W]

Simply phenomenal!

Almost hate to see it continue past this point and have all that intricate patchwork lost behind uniform paint. 

[wazzou]

Dibs if he's parting with it.     Great job DKS.

[peteski]

  Great job DKS.

. . . and the presentation (photography) is not too shabby either.

Even after he lost some blood on this project, it is good to see DKS still has N scale in his (remaining) blood. 

[DKS]

Thanks, all, for the kind words. It is encouraging, especially when I look at it and think it's kinda meh.

Anyway, I added the foundation today. Most buildings start with the foundation, but I usually end with it. The reason is that there's no knowing the precise geometry of the structure until it's done—adjustments, alterations and other changes are inevitable. For example, I was going to build the whole thing at the outset, and partway into the project I dropped the third extension. There were also many tweaks made to the individual wall parts as I went along.



First, I had to add the lowermost courses of brickwork, as highlighted in the reference image above; these were inexplicably omitted on the Vulcan kit walls. I made them by slicing off the tops of spare kit side walls, and flipping them over. If only it was that easy; the spacing of the pilasters on the side walls is different from that on the end walls, and most of the model's walls were assembled from chopped up end walls. So the brick strips had to be cut to fit each section, one at a time—they're all slightly different lengths—for two dozen of them. I also had to take into account the terrain is not dead flat; at the back of the building, the ground is slightly higher to meet the shipping doors, so some of the strips were tapered.



The office has no pilasters, so I used strips cut from the bottom of Allied Rail Rebuilder upper side walls.



The results weren't very pretty, but I expect some distressing, weathering and weeds will disguise the roughness. Finally, with all of the brick strips painstakingly fitted and attached, I could make the stone foundation. I used strips cut from old Pola stone enginehouse walls—at least these didn't have to be pieced, although I still had to taper some to accommodate the changes in grade.



I've always found that a proper foundation is transformative for a model. A structure without a foundation is like a person without feet.



So, that means the model is structurally complete. Next I build the base, and then it's on to painting.