Scratch Building 101: Sinclair Station, Part 2

In part two we build our Sinclair service station, and we will walk you through it, step by step.  If you missed the first half of this article, you might want to go back and read Scratch Building 101: Sinclair Station, Part 1.

Construction

Materials Needed

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Evergreen Scale Models

• Sheet Styrene
  • .020″ – #9020
• Strip Styrene
  • .010 x.020″ – #100
  • .010 x.030″ – #101
  • .020 x.020″ – #120
  • .020 x.030″ – #121
  • .020 x.040″ – #122
  • .020 x.060″ – #123
  • .030 x.060″ – #133
  • .060 x.060″ – #153

Sinclair Plans, scaled to 1:160

Builders In Scale

• 7′-6″ Strip Corrugation – #401

Tichy Train Group

• 6/6 Double Hung Windows – #TIC-2508

Tamiya

• Flat White – XF2
• Flat Green – XF5
• Medium Grey – XF20
• Dark Grey – XF24
• Flat Earth – XF52
• Red Brown – XF64

Polly Scale

• D&H Grey – 414197

Miscellaneous

• .015″ Brass wire
• Balsa or Basswood sheet

Step One

Take your sheet of .020″ styrene and on one of the long edges make a tic mark 1 15/16″ in from the short edge, then do the same on the other long side from the same edge you measured from before.  Now take a good strait edge such as a metal ruler and line it up with the two tick marks you made.  Use an X-acto knife with a sharp #11 blade then gently & slowly score the styrene sheet along the ruler being held firmly with your other hand, then make a few more passes with a little more pressure to cut the sheet to size.  If you apply too much pressure on the first cut, this is where you will run into issues of your cuts not being straight and uneven.  This one strip will be enough for all for walls.

The walls

Now using the same technique as before make tic marks at 11/16″ from the short side, then cut, now we have our first side wall, repeat this to get your other side wall.  Now we need to cut out the front and back, lets begin with the front.  Measure up 1 5/16″ and cut, this gives us our height, measure 1 1/2″ over and cut, that gives us our width.  For the back we will measure 1 7/32″ to get our height and 1 7/16″ for our width and cut.  We can go ahead and cut for our roof pitch, measure down from the top about a 1/2″ on both sides and make a mark, this is the bottom of the pitch, find your center point on the top and now you have all the marks to cut your roof, go ahead and cut it with your blade or if you have one your Chopper.

Step Two

Now we need to layout our window and door openings that need to be cut.  For all of the dimensions please refer to the supplied guide for your measurements.  When you layout for your windows and doors use a sharp or mechanical pencil and put an X through the part that will be removed, this will help to prevent you from cutting out the wrong part.  Much care is involved with this step so take your time, you will make mistakes if you rush yourself.  The side walls are the simplest to cut so start there, cut the sides of the windows first and then cut the bottom, you only need to cut part of the way through and then you can snap out the scrap.   The back is done in the same way but you need to cut along the top of the window.  For the front, be very careful as the sides of the door will be narrow and you do not want to break them off so cut slow and with little pressure.  Once all cuts are made take a jewelers file and square up your corners if needed.

For support for the roof we will need to add some strip styrene to the back of the front wall.  Simply sandwich the front and back walls and trace the roof pitch onto the back.  We will add the support strips in a later step.

Door and windows openings cut

Step Three

We are going to add the trim to the front wall now, you could do this step after you have the four walls together but I find by doing this step it makes the glue up a little easier.  First I added a strip of .020x.030″ styrene on both sides, flush with the face.  The strips will protrude about .010″ on the back, and we want that for our side walls to latch onto.  Then I a added a .010x.020″ strip across the top, next using the same size of strip I added the vertical parts on the face.  I then capped it off with some .020x.060″ strip across the top.  Lastly on the front I added some .010x.020″ strip around the door opening to frame it in.  I then filed any strip that ran long so it was all flush and snug.  Now we are ready to assemble the walls together.

Step Four

Now the critical part with gluing up the walls in to a little box that resembles a structure is to make sure that the corners are always square.    I first glued on a the back to the inside of one the sides, then brace it with some .060″ square styrene, this will also help to keep the corner square.  Let the wall setup.  Next do the same thing for the opposing wall.  After both walls set up, I added some bracing along the bottom of the side walls for extra strength.  Now we add the front to the rest of the assembly in the same manor, use a smaller strip to brace the corners because of the door opening.  The last thing I did was add a strip .020″ square styrene across the top of the of the three back wall sections.  This is necessary so the roof wont interfere with the tops of the windows.

Walls and trim added

Step Five

The roof is the next endeavor, but before we start this we need to add the strips onto the back of the front wall as mentioned in step two.  Because we added the strip along the tops of the walls, you need to compensate and adjust the strips the same distance.  I used .060″ square stock to make the roof supports.

I cut the roof from the same stock as the walls and used the same methods as well.  The piece I cut for the roof is 2″ long by 1 15/16″ long, almost square.  Next you need to find the center point on the shorter side of the roof, and make a tic mark on both ends.  Now you do not want to cut all of the way through, you just need to score it.  Now bend the sheet where the score is, but be careful not to break the seam.  By doing this it will help to keep the roof straight and level.  Now glue the roof to the structure, but use care to insure that all is well and good.

Once the glue set up I added .010x.030″ trim around all the edges of the roof.  This is not a neccesary step but I felt it added to the over all asthetics of the roof.  Typically I would add rafters to the underside of the roof for added detail, but as I was sticking to the prototype, I decided to leave them off.

Roof assembly

Step Six

Now we are going to start applying the corrugated metal siding to the structure, but before we do this I would paint a base coat on all of the trim, to ease the paint process.  I used a flat brown and did not bother masking anything off due to the fact it will be covered soon.    The siding comes in six inch strips, we need to cut many 1/4″ pieces from this stock.  The best method I have found is a sharp pair of scissors, I do not recommend using  an X-acto knife.  When you cut try to ensure that you are cutting straight, this is easy because of the corrugations in the foil act as a guide.  I also eyeball each cut, they do not need to be exact.

There are a few methods to applying the siding, the method I used is plain old Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue.  The other method is using a double sided 3M transfer tape.  This is the way that Doug Foscale recommends for his HO Fos Scale kits.  I have used this method on other structures and does work well.  When applying your siding, be sure to stagger your layers if need.  On the corners you will need to wrap the siding around so make sure the piece will cover the need amount of space.  Once you have siding on the walls, roof and the back of the front wall you will need to cut a ridge cap.  Again using scissors I cut a long and narrow strip (a little less then an 1/8″).  I then applied this to the roof with the CA glue.

The foil the corrugated siding is made from is highly reflective, so you will need to paint it.  I use a thinned down medium grey brushed on liberally.  I then added a few washes of a very thin dark grey and capped off with a wash of india ink/alcohol.

All corrugated metal added

Step Seven

The windows I chose to use on my service station are good at capturing the feel of the prototype, but are not an exact match.  I was also going to modify the windows to closer match the prototype but I felt I should leave it as a fairly easy structure.  The windows I chose are made by Titchy Train Group.  I did do some minor modifications to the windows to help age them, such as cutting out mullions.  I used the same flat brown as a base coat on the windows as on the trim.  I then glued the windows to the structure, be sure to check that they are level.  On the prototype all of the windows are boarded up in one way or another.  So to try to match them I used basswood sheet and scrap sheet styrene.  Both were stained with india ink/alcohol after I glued them onto the back of the windows.  On the sections that I removed the mullions, I cut a small piece of basswood to fit inside.

Windows

Step Eight

I decided to go a little overboard on the doors and made them as close to the prototype as possible.  For your first scratch built structure I wouldn’t recommend building it, but give it a try if you want.

The frame of the door is built from .020x.020 and .040″ strips, then backed with .020″ sheet. The X bracing is also the .020″ square stock. I then painted the door in a flat green, trying to match the very weathered door pattern.  The lighter portions are D&H Grey.  I then added the basswood on the left doors and then added sheet styrene painted flat earth onto the right.  Next I added the two sheets of corrugated metal on the right two doors and painted with a wash of dar grey.  I then gave the door assembly a india ink/alcohol wash to further weather it.

Step Nine

Now we finally get to paint the front of the service station. I painted the front with thinned medium grey. Once the paint was dry I added the Sinclair sign using the method in the Making Your Own Decals article.   After the sign has setup took a old brush that I had cut the bristles very short, dipped it in some flat white paint, wiped most of the paint off on a rag.  You then add the paint to the front of the building in a stabbing motion to give it a textured look.

Finished doors and sign

Step Ten

In the last step I first glued in the door in it’s opening, try not to get glue on the painted surfaces.  I then used the D&H Grey to weather and lighten up the trim on all locations, again attempting to match the prototype.  The last little detail I added was a small electric meter on the right side.  I made this from some .015″ wire and a small piece of .030x.060″ strip styrene.  I painted it with the D&H Grey, and added the illusion of a hole by using a ultra fine Sharpie.

The Finished Structure

Finished structure photography by Todd Hamblin

Summary

I hope you have enjoyed reading this how to as much as I enjoyed writing it and building the Sinclair for you. I hope some of you will take the time and try for yourself this little structure. If you do build it, please send N Scale Limited your photos so we can share them with the other readers. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

• Scratch Building 101: Sinclair Station, Part 1 (7)
• Christopher Hutchinson’s Sinclair Station (4)
• The Dominion Trust Building (4)
• Scratch Built IRT Kiosk: Part 4 (10)
• Scratch Built IRT Kiosk: Part 3 (7)

About the Author

Chris Brimley — Co-founder of N scale Limited, Chris was bitten by the model railroading bug when he was 14, originally working with HO scale he soon discovered the limitless possibilities of N scale. It was only a few years ago when Chris decided that it was time to break free of the kit bubble and begin scratch building structures. The few structures Chris has built have gone on to acquire multiple Best of Show awards in NMRA and non-NMRA judged shows. He is also a member of the budding Junction City N-scalers modular club based out of Ogden, UT that will strive for the best of what N-scale modelers have to offer.