Hi,

Having built a van for it, I now am building the Bakers shop.

It is quite a small model, being made to fit a slab foundation that is 17” long and just under 9” wide; off the length come 2.5” that is going to be the boardwalk.

The boardwalk is the major part of the deck from a Bachmann flat car – the trucks are used under one of my freight cars, the bits are re-used if possible, so nothing goes to waste!

The body of the shop is going to be made from PVC solid foam board, and is based on photos of the building at Silver Plume, Colorado. ‘Railroad Avenue’ used to make a kit of a very similar building that was almost certainly based on it as well.

This one is a bit smaller than the ‘Railroad Avenue’. kit and certainly smaller than the original – I do not have the space for it! However the idea is from there, first thing is to make the complicated front & side window units. Large areas of ‘glass’ mean that I have used clear styrene from the CD cases, a new to me glue for these is the ‘GS Hypo’ cement, which is clear and does not craze the styrene. I do not have any but I think it can be bought here in the UK, so I will be buying some for a trial.

 There is a new supplier of ‘bits’ for scratchbuilders in the USA – Scale Art Model Services – (www.scaleartmodels.com) – they had a hand in the layout of Tom Miller, and are mentioned in the new issue of the magazine ‘Shortline & Narrow Gauge Gazette’ where there is a photo and a short review of some of the bits they are selling. – I have no connection with them!

Meanwhile the glues are slightly thick styrene cement and my main glue – Evostik (epoxy style tube contact cement) The main parts are all styrene, using the dimensions which were slightly adjusted from the ‘Structures of the Early West’ book – where there is a store from Laurin, Montana drawn, which gave me some dimensions to start off with..

The false front wraps round the side(above the window) and the area behind is filled to the level of the false front(& side) the roof here will be I think a standing seam metal roof, the main roof will be shingled, and the bakehouse will be corrugated (pop)cans. Nothing like variety! The bakehouse (at the rear) will be an added ‘shed’ portion, and have a board & batten style for the walls, again adding variety.

 

Hi,

All the windows made first & painted in two colors, those for the back of the building are plainer and in one color, than those for the ‘public’ portion.

The ends of the building are rebated into the sides to provide a greater area for gluing, and the outside is covered with plastic right angles section to cover the joins.  All window, and door rectangles are cut before assembly’ I drill the corners so the holes cat be cut from each side, for more I would cut them with a scroll saw, but this was easier to do by hand and a knife.

The sides are scribed for planks (push the scriber on this material: pulling it will rip the surface off; the rear ‘shed’ and back wall are  ‘board and batten’, this idea I found on the web – it looks different, as if the rear has been renewed, or replaced, and the color I paint it will reflect fairly new wood. 

The roof above the entrance is the same design as the Silver Plume shop; the roof itself has been made as a ‘stand up seam’ version. Adding more variety some the roof of the store/bake house at the back is made 4 sheets of corrugated iron. The main roof is a shingled roof.

The shorter main roof side (because of the extra ‘lifted’ roof behind the false front) has an intermediate support fitted to hold it up, this is glued to the cross piece that stiffens the walls, and will stop any movement. The roof panels are 2mm thick styrene card.

The two flat pieces above the windows and at the top of the false front are quite detailed – I made the 20 corbels to start with, added the back piece to them all, then fixed them in position. In addition to these I added the panels between them, to give the top and bottom of the (decorated) fronts a common look.

They were painted as part of the main painting task and when all was complete I added the extra detail onto them. It is made from pre-painted paper strips for the font and on the sides are some shaped, basically a reduction of the shape of the corbels)  pieces as well; I made a pattern of the design, cut out all 40, and painted the lot, twice to ensure that the paper is well covered. Later it had another two coats of varnish as well. I used paper as it was easy to do, and more flexible that plastic card.

The shop windows, and front doors are being fitted with blinds to reduce the visibility factor; there is an internal cross wall, but the only detail is a door, and wainscoting painted onto it. Scribe the lines for the door, (which assist in the painting), and add some strips for the door architrave, and cap for the wainscoting – paint these strips before fitting, it is much easier then.

The internal cross piece – a horizontal cross piece of PVC foam strip, made from the PVC strips used by window fitters – is very useful to hold when I was doing the painting of the building!

I have deliberately left the window displays off – whilst I work out some bakery goods – loaves etc which will be made from ‘air dry’ clay I think. The back wall of the display for the windows – with shelves facing towards (the inside of the windows) will be easily removable. I think there will be some angle strips for glue that can be easily sliced through; I am not certain yet – work is still in progress!

The building fits onto a part of a small paving slab, to locate it there is a distance piece at the back, and two fixing pieces on each side, and at the front a boardwalk has been glued to the flags surface: these can be seen in the photo of the base. Two small screws hold it on, fitting through the concrete foundation pieces. The front boardwalk is from the base of a Bachmann flatcar.

 

 

 

A view of the fromt doors, showing the added false front; this is glued to the top of the windows which had ane xtra piece added inside to stiffen the windows and add some extra glue area; the front (to the left) has on the back  a triangular area for the roof sheets to fit; in addition as this has an added roof inside the flase front there is a strip of scarp added here for that extra roof to be glued to later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All painted now, the rest of the photos are all of the finshed article.  A most undignified position for the model its almost upside down, to view the extra added to the corbels etc. This is larger than life virtual;ly so the rough painting doea niot show as much as it does here! My darned camera showing thins up again! The corners of the walls are all covered in plastic right angled strip as protection for the corners. Mine came from a DIY store and it is quite a bit cheaper than the Pastruct version of the smae thing; grind out the internal corner with a dremel fitted with a drum sander as it can have a lot of 'draft'. 

 

 

 

 

All painted up, and a virtually 'ground level' view. I added a fancy top to the windows to add to the look of the building. The interior wall can just be seen with the door hiding behind the main doors.




 

 

Self explanatory really! The base (part of a paving slab - get the thinnest you can they are easier to cut with an angle grinder) with the boardwalk at the right and the bits of plastic angle (much deeper than the stuff on the corners, again from a window fitters shop) 

 

 

 

 

The building shown on its base. The panel nearest the corner may have a blackboard fitted there with the 'Special today' on the top of it. A better view of the iintermediate wall can be seen here.

 

Thats all for now, decals are still to be designed but I have ideas for them - they will be fitted to the space(s) above the main windows.