3 Bay Car Shop


The first kit (their Diamond Mining Company or similar name) also had warped parts and parts that were ill fitting.
I just built the Diamond King Mining Company in HO. I didn't notice any warping, but I did have a lot of parts that were ill fitting. That was until I realized I had many of them backwards. That is the walls and roofs that seemed symmetrical end-to-end actually were not. For example the eve side of the roof was a tiny bit longer than the wall side of the roof. I had originally forced it together. When I took it back apart to paint (after the board meeting "show") is when I noticed this. Once I realized the issue and paid much closer attention it went together much nicer.
 
Just finished the second walkway. This time, instead of using CA I decided to solder everything together - the rails to the walkway and the steps to the completed walkway. All in all, I don't think it turned out too bad for something that will essentially hidden within the Shop:

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Have to put the other steps on and these will be finished. I think all that remains, without going over board, is a few Cabinets and Work Benches scattered along the walls and (maybe) beneath the walkways and the lighting and oh yeah - the floor :(
 
Tony,

Did the soldering method work out better than CA? Either wat it looks very fiddly to assemble.
Yep, soldering worked out better, cleaner for me but was a bit fiddly. The CA worked but I seemed to get it every where and it clogged some of the detail on the walkway.

Assembly was incredible difficult ... well, actually, it was pretty easy. The walkway involved inserting the Hand Rails into pre drilled holes along the edge of the walkway itself. Because these "kits" are so well made, once you got one "prong" into a hole the rest just fell into place. I soldered them b laying the walkway on a piece of foam and slightly pushed the hand rail prongs through the pre drilled holes and into the foam. That held everything in place while I dropped a "dab" of solder on each "prong/leg" of the hand rail where it met the walkway.

The steps were even easier, they come as a single piece but flat. All that is required is to "bend/fold" the handrails up and using tweezers, the treads out to level.

Soldering the steps to the walkways was a little more time consuming. Trying to get the hand rails on the steps and the walkway to line up with each other was harder than I expected and I didn't have a great deal of success. All I did to join the two was tin the edge of the top tread of the steps and the leading edge of the walkway, held them together and touched both parts with the iron.
 
Actually, I have always pre tinned what I have soldered, other than feeders to the track. Don't know why I didn't but will have to from now on :)

I think the biggest thing I have learnt from this build from a soldering point of view is the "right equipment" makes things much easier and cleaner. Going from a chisel tip tip and .032 solder to a needle nose tip and .020 solder has not only made things easier and quicker but has given a better result. I'ts more or less the opposite to "a poor workman always blames his tools" to "an average worker can give a lot of the credit to his tools"! :)
 
There's a variety of tips, they all do jobs they were designed for better than others. Generally for what we do, a pencil and 2 sizes of chisel, One just a bit bigger than a pencil and a wider 1/4" will handle most things.
 
TONY -- I have never built anything in N scale ... can you give me the size of that walkway in inches?
Looks "fiddly" to me - you have done a really good job.
 
Hi all, have been busy this past week or so so apologies for the delayed replies.

Amtrakking,

Yep I think they look great when assembled and can (probably) be used for a lot of purposes.

Sherrel:

The length of one section of walkway is 3.5"
The width of each walkway is 1/4"
The hieght of the railings is 1/4"

The steps are also 1/4" wide and high with railings and raise the walkway 5/8"

The steps are one piece and everything (railings and treads) fold up or out to suit using tweezers. The walkway comes in two parts, the walkway itself and the railings that fit into pre drilled holes in the walkway.

The walkways and railings can be joined, or cut, for longer or shorter lengths as well. I will possibly remove a part of one of the railings to allow for access to the engines. These "kits" are very flexible and very well made. While I was a little cautious about their fragility, I was surprised to find just how robust they are.
 
After looking at both the Peco and Kato Pits, even though I like the Kato Pits I chose to go with the original choice, Peco. The main stumbling block for me was how to do the floor of the shop incorporating the pits. You know what it is like when you have a problem that you can't seem to solve then one day "BANG" the light goes on and the solution jumps out at you? Well, that is what happened with me this evening. The lights came on and how easy was the solution? Well this easy:

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All I have to do now is cut styrene sections to go around the outsides of the 3 Pits and it will be done. Well, actually, it all needs two layers of the styrene I am using to bring everything up flush and that wont be hard.

Now I have this sorted out, I can look at placing the interior details, walkways, work benches, work cabinets, fire extinguishers and so on. All I will need to do is settle on the lighting for the shop and am hoping this Fibre Optic stuff with the Gallery Glass will do the job. If not, then I'll continue with the what I have temporarily put in place.
 



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