Structures in tight places - 4
Heritage Furniture was not, since it has rather complicated
corners and supporting columns with corners, and in at least
one spot I had to slap on a piece of styrene because of an ill-
fitting joint. It is unseen on the back but it still bugs me. I wish
I could have come up with a better solution.
But first I had to realign my curving track and fit it to the build-
ings (and vice-versa). I kept playing with them until build-
ings and track worked together – the kits were simply taped
together and the track held in place with push pins. When it all
looked good, I nailed down the track in a few places and ran a
switcher and car into the covered dock and alleyway to make
sure they fit and didn’t bump anything. It is a tight fit, which is
why I added a sign I once saw on the ATSF that says “Warning –
Structures on This Track Will Not Clear Man on Side of Car.”
4: True them up on a homemade sanding plate.
4
Haas Warehouse
Heritage Furniture was
the first to get cut up and
reassembled. I needed to
make one wall longer with
a piece cut from a wall that
was too long. Cutting a line
with a hobby knife and then
snapping works great on
styrene, but it won’t work
on plastic kit walls, so these
were carefully cut with a
hobby saw and then a little
sandpaper to get rid of any
plastic fuzz. I use 220 water-
proof sandpaper taped to a
piece of plate glass for a flat
and true edge.
With the windows fitted,
but not glued, the walls
were joined on a quickly-
made jig to keep every-
thing square. Though you
can’t see them, pieces of
.040" styrene strip run
across the seams on the
back or inside to keep
them together no matter
what. These were added after the dried wall was turned over.
5
5: A homemade jig will keep
things square as you cement
the wall to the rest. Don’t
cement the windows in, but
place them in the opening to
make sure they’ll all fit later.
MRH-Feb 2014
