Fool that I am...I went and bought a corrugated metal building kit, but havent the faintest idea as to how to go about putting it together. The instructions mention some kind of flux/solder mix that can be used by applying this flux and taking the soldering iron to it.
Anyone have any experience/tips with this kind of building..?? Sure would like some input before I botch the whole thing up....

Steamtrains Wrote:Fool that I am...I went and bought a corrugated metal building kit, but havent the faintest idea as to how to go about putting it together. The instructions mention some kind of flux/solder mix that can be used by applying this flux and taking the soldering iron to it.
Anyone have any experience/tips with this kind of building..?? Sure would like some input before I botch the whole thing up....

That's a classic kit... Do they still even make those? I have never soldered one together, but my guess is a pencil-type soldering iron will not have enough heat. A large soldering gun may work, or a small butane torch. I would also guess that you may be able to assemble it with epoxy.

Hi Kevin...Epoxy - I'd never thought of that...Might try it as an alternative.
The kit is a Suydam kit I picked up on EvilBay...A few of these kits pop up now and then there. I've bought a couple there, although the others were wooden kits, which is my "specialty"....

I was going to guess it is a Suydam kit. I have three or four of these - not necessarily for the all metal construction, but because they include great plans and additional industry info. I have the "Black Bart" mine, roundhouse, and sawmill. I did put the mine together with epoxy as mentioned.

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Andrew

I had the feedmill on my first layout, and assembled it using contact cement.

Wayne

Superglue, it's metals best friend

I have assembled the feed mill using a gun type soldering iron. It worked fairly well. One could also use any of the adhesives mentioned above.

After assembling the feed mill I decided I didn't like it. I will probably disassemble it and use the metal for roofing material. I also have the furniture factory but am not enthused with the looks. It will also probably provide material for roofing, etc.

Suydam is now Alpine Division Scale Models in Artesia, CA.

Tom

A further note...How can I "distress" it a bit so it doesn't have that "out of the press" look..?? I'm thinking bumps, dents, tears....
As for the assembly, I'm gonna have a go at it with 5 min. epoxy...
Thanks for the tips...

Good idea on the stress marks but keep in mind to keep them fairly small. Unless someone has driven a forklift through the side (or in my case not opened the door fully and had the railroad shove a boxcar through it. True story).

Tom

It is hard to remember sometimes that 1/8 of an inch is almost a foot in ho scale. If you can see it, it is almost too big.

Ditto to what Russ said. I rec'd one of these kits from the fellow who is now running Alpine during an open house/layout tour. He was very friendly and was bringing one of his kits to everyone on the tour that day. I regret to say I have not touched it since I examined it then, nearly 4 years ago now. HOWEVER, I have the feeling its simplicity in shape and materials belies its true nature as a beautiful structure when completed.

It's caustic stuff, but what about using circuit board etching solution? That's an old Campbell corrugated metal trick I've seen used to great effect. Just be careful to protect your eyes and skin, and work in a well ventilated area (like a spray booth or outdoors). No model is worth your health.

I'd choose the distressor's friend, drybrushing rust. Start as dry as you can possibly get and add layer by layer, varying the color from darker to lighter as you go along. And I've never tried it, but some folks swear by Bragdon's adhesive powders painted on with alcohol. I use them straight and have applied them wet with water, but I'd guess you could do that with Dr. Ben's or other chalks.

Galen

You can check out their website at http://www.alpinemodels.com

Greg Melby
Seattle, WA.

BTW, use a high wattage iron if you decide to solder the building together, your typical iron you would use for soldering track feeders and rail joints, usually around 25 watts, isn't hot enough to solder these kits as the large sheet of metal will draw the heat out of the iron faster than it can pump it out and will result in poor or cold solder joints. A soldering gun or an 80 watt or higher iron will remove most of the frustration from assembly and I would recomend the soldering gun as most guns have a two step trigger for medium and high heat. Solder and fluxes used for plumbing is recomended as these are designed for soldering metal together and will provide a stronger joint.

When I started working in hobby shops back in the late 1960's the Suydam kits were readily available and fairly inexpensive for the size of building you got for your money. I built the Black Bart Mine as my first kit and when I changed from modeling steam and diesels to traction I sold off all of the mines and sawmills I had built for a decent profit. Word got around that I did a great job building the metal kits and I was able to pay for a lot of college textbooks (and trolley books too) assembling the kits for my customers at the hobby shop. I built jigs to hold the parts while soldering and I got to the point where I could knock out a completed and painted building every couple of days mainly because I usually left any weathering for the owner to do to his liking. I've never left a Suydam building bare metal because they are too shiny, every corrugated building I've ever seen never was shiny, even when freshly built because the galvanizing leaves the metal a dull gray. Krylon or Rust-O-Leum light gray primer works well on the models to simulate this look according to my customers opinions.

One word of caution when using acid flux, make sure you get all of the residue left on the models neutralized and removed from the model, leaving even a little bit can allow the metal to rust completely out of scale in those areas over time (been there, done that. :oops: ) and in extreme cases could possibly cause the joints to fail.

Greg Melby
Seattle, WA.

Greg...I'm glad I didn't try to solder this thing together....I would'a thrown the whole thing out after an hour's work. I'm assembling with a combination of CA and epoxy, and it's going together quite nicely. (Except for the fact that I built 2 right-hand walls...!! - I caught the mistake in time so was able to correct this without much hassle). Once I got the hang of how it goes together it's pretty straightforward.
I had planned on giving the whole thing a coat of light gray primer, followed up with a wash of darker gray acrylics, and finish off with a robust application of rust & dirt.
I'm not too thrilled with the window materials (printed acetate ) I'll have to come up with something else...
Pictures of build will follow soon...

Although not quite the same, I have built a couple of kits with the Campbell's corregated tin siding. Like you, I didn't want a shiny new building so I weathered it using a series of paint washes starting with shades of gray and then several different rust colors. A started with a spray of Dullcoat to give the paint something to stick to. Be sure to pay attention to the individual pieces of siding as they always weather differently. Here's a pic om my Idaho Springs Mine. Post some pics of yours when done.
Doc