January Model of the Month

Hello Fellow Modellers:

I recently received a phone call from a long time model railroader in my local city. He wanted to know if I wanted his magazine collection that dated back to the 1950s? The collection was huge, Model Railroaders, NMRA Bulletins, Model Railroad Craftsman and other various publications collected over the years. I spent about 2 weeks looking through all of the magazines for building tips, techniques and other information that I could share with you. While researching I thought to myself I should cut out any simple building articles and build them for fun for all of you to watch. Over the course of the next 12 months I am going to build a model of the month based on articles I found in some of the old magazine articles, photos I have collected, plans I have collected … I even am going to build a building or 2 from one of my favourite children’s books. I hope you enjoy my first model of the month!

This month’s model comes from a booklet someone gave me several years ago. The booklet was part of a model railroad show in Calgary with drawings of historic buildings that were part of Alberta history. The buildings also exist in Calgary’s Heritage Park. www.heritagepark.ca
You can also google images Calgary’s Heritage Park for pictures of all of the great buildings at the park.
I was hoping to attend the huge Calgary Train Show last spring but could not attend and had started to design several kits to sell as a way to supplement my travel expenses. The Real Estate Office was one of 3 kits I started but never finished … until now!

I could change the name from Model of the Month to a simple build over 2 or 3 evenings. This is such a great little building with lots of detail, perfect proportions and great laser design for simple construction.

I am hoping to use the Model of the Month buildings for use in my school model club for projects: OSCVI MODEL CLUB.

Materials used for the build:
- clapboard wood siding
- laser board trim and door details
- 6″ x 6″ stripwood for corner details
- laser cut window glazing
- laser cut wood panels
- Northeastern Scale Lumber Shingles
- stripwood for bracing
- chimney casting
- wicker white paint

Building Steps:

1. I started bracing my 4 wall sections. (I painted my chimney casting while glue dried on the bracing)

2. Next I painted the 4 wall sections and window/door/trim sheet my wicker white paint … I should have painted my 6″ x 6″ corner stripwood but I forgot … you can see this in the photos … I simply painted them after I glued it together.

That was it for the first night (less than1 hour to do the first 2 steps)

3. Cut and Glue your 6″ x 6″ stripwood to the corners of your peaked front and back wall sections.

4. Remove your door/window/trim from the tabs that hold them in place.

5. Glue your window glazing into the windows and door openings.

6. Glue your window & door trim around the appropriate opening.

7. Glue your 2 pieces that make up the front door together.

8. Glue your windows and door into their respective openings.

9. Glue your appropriate window and door sills into place.

10. Paint the underside of your roof panel edges a dark colour.

11. I cheated on the roof and used Northeastern Scale Lumber’s roofing. (the roofing comes in a variety of shades) I simply measured it against the roof panel, cut it with a sharp razor blade and glued the roofing in place … it is a great product because it is not a paper photograph, it is real strips of shingles but they are glued into place so when I say it was simple i should say it was fast too! It took me about 1 minuter per roof panel to cut and glue into place. I weighted the panels down so the shingles dried flat.

End of night 2 (I work quickly so these steps took just over 1 hour)

12. I assembled and glued my 4 wall sections together and touched up any areas with paint that required it.

13. Glue down roof panels and attach a strip as your peak.

14. The last thing I did was to attach a chimney at the back … in hindsight I should have laser cut the hole before but I was in a hurry and had to drill a hole and then file it square so the chimney fit … does this sound familiar to any of you???

Stay tuned for next month’s model. I am not sure if it will be 1 of the other 2 buildings, from an old magazine article or a children’s book. I’ll wait and see where my creative juices take me.

Thanks, Joe

[Show as slideshow]

OSCVI Model Club

I am a secondary school teacher at the Owen Sound Collegiate and Vocational Institute. I am the head of the Special Education department and I am assigned to the resource room where students can get extra help in their academic subjects. This room is great because it has large round tables and a wall of windows that allows natural light to flow into the room. This room is perfect for fine scale modelling because of the tables and lighting.

The OSCVI Model Club is a group of students who meet in my room a couple of times a week over the lunch hour. I have run the club for 3 years and decided to add this button my website to share with you some of our projects. During model club we eat our lunch, work on various projects and discuss the history behind the models. For some students the slowing down and step by step process can be transferred to their school work. Over the course of the school year we will be sharing some of our work and projects in this area.

The club is an opportunity to take a break from the hustle and bustle of a busy school day and sit and quietly work with students that are motivated to learn new skills and are more than appreciative of the time well spent with them.

I hope you stop by and enjoy the work of the great students at the OSCVI!

Sincerely,

Joe Rutter
OSCVI