Workday Wednesday - February 7th

Workday Wednesday - February 7th

Doug has sent me number of images and a detailed report on their recent WDWD session.

The lads gathered across the mighty Ottawa River at Bill's place where they worked in the comfort of his home workshop.

The following words come from Doug.

Another Wednesday found Fred and I in Bill Scobie's RGS shops continuing our work on the Glen Hammond station.  Bill had finished the painting - a picture of the painted walls and windows was previously posted. 

 

Bill kicked off the day's work by gluing 1" by 1" bracing to an end wall.

 Fred was the quality control supervisor.

 

The process was straightforward - glue the bracing to the inside of the two end walls and clamp them while the glue dried.

 

We used a hi tech device (an old mitre box) for cutting the bracing (outside to keep dust out of the shop).

 

Here are the two end walls of the station properly braced and clamped.

 

 The back wall of the station was positioned and after glue was applied to the corner brace on the end wall, it was clamped in place.

 

Here is another view.

 

The second side wall was added and clamped - there are never enough clamps!

 

Next step was to add the top and bottom braces to the back wall.

 

After a break to let glue dry, we began the process of adding the station front and squaring the assembly.  It was a bit tricky as the front is not a continuous wall.  It has an extension for the operator's bay.

 The station was assembled, turned over and in this view, the two main pieces of the front wall have been put in place.

 

At this point, Pat Brennan graced us with his presence.

 

The basic station was now completed sans operator's bay.  Glue was applied to outline the station on the plywood base and screws were put through the bottom bracing to firmly attach station and base.

 

To finish up, the operator's bay was tackled.  Unfortunately, one of the bay sidewalls was incorrectly laid out with the placement of the window opening reversed.  Problems are really opportunities so after a brief discussion on how to proceed, the sidewall was cut and reassembled in the correct orientation - kitbashing with plywood!.

 

Now we have the operator's bay walls glued in place. The front of the bay was added and the assembly clamped to let glue dry.

The day's work was complete.  The windows created by Chris were put back in and the "rafters" laid casually on top while the station posed for the camera. 

Next week...onward to sub-roofing and rafters before the station returns to the IPP&W shop for final roofing and finishing.

Thanks, Doug, for all the above images and captions!

These next few images came from Pat's camera.

Father Fred looks on as Bill & Doug set the clamps in place.

Break time!  Pat wrote, "The guys were sniffing glue... ahem... waiting for the glue to dry."

"Ah-har Maties!" as Fred would be heard saying!

"Clamps, clamps...and more clamps!" as Pat says.

Indeed, clamps of all styles and sizes come in handy as seen in this end shot...

...and in this aerial view!

Pat then wrote,  "I was playing music with my band too, Mike.  And we met Bill Linley at Ottawa train station this afternoon,  after the railway history lunch. Lots of train stuff today and music. What a great day!"  

Fred and Pat are pictured side by side, third and fourth from the right.

Pat's outdoor shot taken at Ottawa's train station in the suburb of Alta Vista.  Thanks for the photos Pat!

These next four shots come from Bill.  Bill tells us,  "After the boys went out the door I am sitting here not wanting to get into some fine modeling so I started looking at the roof - and this is what happened!"

Wow, Bill!  You're making great headway on the "hat" of the station!

Well done laddy!

This will be a landmark structure on the railroad!

As for me, I have taken a short break from my O-scale modeling for Doug.  I brought this HO scale kit down off the shelf.  It is the "Backwoods Junction Station" from Laser-Art Structures by Branchline Trains.

Hey...the colours on the box top are similar to the ones the WDWD crew have used for their larger project!  Cool!

Being a small HO kit I made it my goal to begin the project and end the project on the same day.

All the painting and weathering of the parts took very little time.

I chose to change up the colour combination slightly to the more ubiquitous B&M standard station colours for the period I model - Depot Buff  walls with Maroon trim. 

Tab & slot design made sure the walls would match up.  I did add a bit of bracing on the inside corners.  As with all the craftsman structures I build - I paint both sides of the walls to help prevent warping as best as possible.  I also glued some black construction paper inside as I will not be making an interior for the structure.

The supports for the canopy have to be glued together.

Then it's simply a matter of "fitting the puzzle pieces together" to create the supporting infrastructure.

The roof is glued atop the supports.  I adhered the shingle strips while chatting with Father Fred on the phone which was cradled between my ear and my shoulder...but I managed to get the shingle lengths in place.  Some shingle areas will require a touch up of glue.

The decorative trim is now glued in place.

Job complete!  All in one single modelling day!  Typically when I create larger structures I paint them one day and let the paint dry for 24 hours.  I then brace all the walls and roof sections and allow another 24 hours for the glue to set.  Because this was a smaller project and it used the platform as a further bracing area it was easy to begin and end the project in a single day!

Because the station is a "backwoods junction stop" it is very typical of those smaller depots where farmers would bring their milk trackside rather than to a local creamery.  The train collecting the milk at each stop became known as "The Milk Run" because of its frequent stops.  Funnily enough...even though this train seemed slow to the passengers wanting to get where they were going, it provided an expedient way for farmers to get their milk to market!

Next step...to create a small diorama and use other small structures I have made in the past that rest on my shelves nearby my workbench including these two shacks from Full Steam Ahead.

I'll showcase the steps involved in the creation of this diorama at the end of an upcoming OVGRS blog entry.

Here is the finished diorama which began and ended the following day - yes, another 24 hour project!

The forest in behind is my "cheat" forest which I often place behind my smaller dioramas to provide some context for the scene.  Too much fun!

Pat has granted me permission to mention that he is now recovering from back surgery.  His convalescence period will be three months.  

Pat, that brings us to the middle of May...exactly the time we will be gathering in Fred's backyard to run trains!  We all wish you well with your recovery!  You'll be a new man!!!  😀😎😁

Thanks to Doug, Bill, Pat, Chris & Fred for their contributions to our large scale railroad.  It is a treat for all of us to see the magic they have on the go as they continue their project on the depot they are building for the railroad.

All the best, the WDWD lads of the OVGRS

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada