Nachoman's summer 2010 enginehouse challenge.

[nachoman]

I decided upon an enginehouse. It will be two stalls, and scratchbuilt. Initial plans are for it to be a wood-framed structure with a corrugated metal siding and roof. Eventually this will be part of a much larger smelter complex. I will place it on my layout near my eventual turntable, but it will be a parallel track enginehouse rather than a roundhouse.

[scubadude]

Looking forward to this build. I have a RIX 2 stall engine house with the white roof and blue aluminum siding, but it's pretty modern and boring. Hoping to get some good ideas from your scratchbuild project I can steal fair and square!

[P5se Camelback]

Hey, Nachos Hombre! Is that OSB that you use for sub roadbed? Do you find that strong enough? Do you have any problems with it when you introduce water, like when you are doing a bit of scenicking? :?: :?:

And Scubadude ... we used to say ... a good designer steals with both hands!

[nachoman]

Hey, Nachos Hombre! Is that OSB that you use for sub roadbed? Do you find that strong enough? Do you have any problems with it when you introduce water, like when you are doing a bit of scenicking? :?: :?:

And Scubadude ... we used to say ... a good designer steals with both hands!

Yep. OSB. I am using it because I got it for free as scraps from my dad's house framing. I find it plenty strong enough, but it does swell some when ballasting. So, I use latex paint to paint all exposed OSB before ballasting. That is a good idea no matter what you are using for a layout - because you don't want the plywood or blue/pink foam to show through, either. My preference would be exterior plywood, but that can be expensive.

[nachoman]

Step one was to cut a hole in the benchwork to install a previously constructed turntable. The turntable is not part of the challenge, but I needed to install it in oder to be able to line the tracks up and properly size the enginehouse.

[nachoman]

Step two is to figure out what I am going to make this thing out of. I will use a freelance design, and the design will have to consider what materials are available to me. I want the look of a wood frame building with steel siding. But, my stash of scale lumber is low and I would rather avoid buying new lumber if I can find something free that will work.

   

I bought this little table saw from Garbage (Harbor) Freight a few years ago for cutting PCB ties. I think it cost me about 35 bucks. It came with two 4" blades - one about 40 teeth, and the other a diamond blade. The diamond blade worked great for the PCB, and I have also used it for cutting plastic or thin wood. It works okay for that, but has many limitations. First, the motor spins fast but is not that powerful. It won't cut wood much thicker than 1/4 of an inch. Second, the 40 tooth blade is a little coarse for fine model work. Micro mark sells blades that will fit, but they are expensive. A finer (and sharper) blade may help its performance for model work. The drawback with the included blade is that the cuts can be a little rough and require sanding.

   

Another drawback of the saw is the small table size and lack of rip fence. The slot for the blade opening was also too wide for ripping small pieces. So, yesterday I built this top to fit over the saw. So far, it seems to work well. I have a few more features I want to add to improve it, but I think this will suit my purpose. It works well on soft woods like paint stirring sticks...!!! That's the beauty. My dad has a 5-gallon bucket full of paint stirring sticks he never used. Home Depot gives a bunch to him every time he buys paint, but probably has only used 1/4 of them. Next time I see him, I should have an armload of stirring sticks to turn into scale lumber.

[TrainNut]

Whenever I have to go see the doctor, when he steps out for a moment, I always grab a handful of tongue depressors.
I bet that was a bit difficult getting that round hole cut with your jigsaw due to the proximity of the track on the right side? Maybe you did not use a jigsaw?

[doctorwayne]

....I should have an armload of stirring sticks to turn into scale lumber.

Okay, that does it! Kevin has to go and raise the darn bar again. I'll have to sit out for this Challenge, as I'll be out in the yard drilling for oil so that I can make my own plastic for the next Challenge.

Nice work, Kevin, and a good example of "necessity being the mother of invention".

Wayne

[P5se Camelback]

Had me laughing pretty good there, Doctor! And I enjoyed the Frank Zappa reference, too!

Then I realized I was going to have to build a kiln to make the thousands of bricks I will need for my GERN facility!!

Thanks, Kevin!

[nachoman]

Whenever I have to go see the doctor, when he steps out for a moment, I always grab a handful of tongue depressors.
I bet that was a bit difficult getting that round hole cut with your jigsaw due to the proximity of the track on the right side? Maybe you did not use a jigsaw?

Nope, I used a jigaw - very carefully! And the tongue depressors - I hate those evil things. That dry feeling when they touch my tongue . For as much as doctors cost these days, don't feel guilty about that! Same goes for wooden coffee stirrers. I suppose I could go to costco and buy a huge box for about a penny per stirrer, but it is much funnner to steal from the coffeehouse with the overpriced coffee :mrgreen:

[nachoman]

....I should have an armload of stirring sticks to turn into scale lumber.

Okay, that does it! Kevin has to go and raise the darn bar again. I'll have to sit out for this Challenge, as I'll be out in the yard drilling for oil so that I can make my own plastic for the next Challenge.

Nice work, Kevin, and a good example of "necessity being the mother of invention".

Wayne

I was having a conversation with my dad about paint stirring sticks and what they are made out of. They are strong, lightweight, and soft. My guess is aspen. Anyone know? Anyway, I will keep those appraised of how they work out.

[scubadude]

Had me laughing pretty good there, Doctor! And I enjoyed the Frank Zappa reference, too!

Then I realized I was going to have to build a kiln to make the thousands of bricks I will need for my GERN facility!!

Thanks, Kevin!

I think Harbor Freight has mini-kilns to make mini-bricks for $39.95! Add some Flux and you can make the bricks 3% faster...Don't go where the Huskies go, don't you eat no yellow snow!

[nachoman]

A few updates...

I have decided I want to base my enginehouse on the Silverton Northern enginehouse seen here (not my photos):

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It has steel siding and roof, and I like that has separate stall doors that are not symmetrical with the front of the building. Parallel track on my layout are about 1 7/8" apart, determined by the separation of the centers of HO cork roadbed when placed at its closest. That may be a little wide for HOn3, but it does help with uncoupling cars and re-railing. I have decided to use roughly the same spacing for my enginehouse, because I want a little space between the tracks for support posts. I will make the enginhouse 10 inches long, more than long enough for my longest HOn3 loco.

I also played around with my table saw a little. After sharpening the blade with a file, I was able to make decently clean rips down to about 2 scale inches wide. I should have no problem ripping framing pieces in the 6-12 scale inch widths.

[e-paw]

Great start. If Doc Wayne starts making his own plastic I'm going to mine my own metals for boilers.

[Sumpter250]

Had me laughing pretty good there, Doctor! Then I realized I was going to have to build a kiln to make the thousands of bricks I will need for my GERN facility!! Thanks, Kevin!

Thousands of bricks,..............not too far off from the thousands of shingles I'll have to make for the boathouse !