In part one we raised the stations walls, added windows and did a little painting.  So lets move right into it and continue where we left off.

Construction

I gave a warning in the beginning of part one about parts of the building being a little more difficult, this is it.  It isn’t extremely  challenging, but something that would be better with some experience under your belt.  However I could be very wrong and it could be easy, so push yourself and give it a try.

The Roof

For the panels of the roof, I decided to go with .020″ sheet styrene.  It is thin enough to be easily cut and sturdy enough that it doesn’t need too much bracing.  Start off by measuring how tall the pieces need to be.  The roof panels the front and back are easy to figure out so lets start with them.  To get the width, just measure from the end to other end and you get 34′ 6″.  For the height, just measure on the end elevation from the end up to the peak and you get about 15′ 3″.  To get the widths of the hips or the side panels, measure the width the same as the front and back and it should be 26′ 3″.  We will just stick with the height that is on the front and back because it is at the same pitch as the sides, which is 7/12.

Now that we have the measurements of the roof panels, lets cut them out.  I cut a strip from sheet styrene that is the height of the roof (15′ 3″).  This strip cut on the long side of the sheet will be more than enough for all of the panels.  Next take the strip and cut out the rectangles for the four panels to the previously mentioned lengths.  Now take your two shorter panels that are the hips and find the center point along one of the long sides.  Make a mark and now you have your top.  Take your straight edge from one of the bottom corners to the point and cut, then repeat for the opposite side and the other hip.  Now take one of your hips and use it as a guide to get the needed angles on the remaining panels, draw this line, but don’t cut it yet.  Measure in from each side on the top 6′ and make a mark, do the same on the bottom.  Take your straight edge, line it up on the top and bottom tic-marks and draw a line down from the top to the angled line.  You now have all of the lines needed to cut out the remaining panels so go ahead and take your straight edge and knife and cut them out.

The last piece needed to cut out so we can glue everything up is ends our gables.  These will also act as trusses for the roof so it will not lose its shape and keep the whole thing together.  On some scrap .010″ sheet styrene I laid this pattern out very simply by measuring 24 scale feet in and marking at this point and at 12′.  From the 12′ mark, measure up 7′ and make your mark, go ahead and cut out this triangle using the marks as guides.

Roof assembly

Glue up should be a fairly simple step as long as your parts were cut out correctly.  To start with I drew a line in from the gable ends, in the above photo I am about 2′ in which ended up being too much, I had to fix this later on.  I would recommend coming in by 1′, then make a line and glue in .040″ square strip to act as bracing for the gable ends.  Next take one of the gable ends and glue it to one of the roof panels, have the peak of the gable end line up to the top of the roof panel.  Repeat for the other gable end and then when the glue has setup, attach the other panel to the assembly.

Before we can add the hips of the roof, we need to take off the top of the triangle and turn it into a trapezoid.  Trim just enough so it will fit snug with the gable end, it should be in the 9′ range.  Once you have the hips fitting, go ahead and glue them into position.  Set it aside and give it ample time to setup.

Rafters

To begin with I cut about 70 6′ long pieces of .015x .020″ to be the rafters.  I then placed the roof assembly upside down onto the plans that I had drawn up.  Because I had included the rafters on the plans, I was able to use it as a guide.  I applied a little amount of glue where a rafter would be placed, then I gripped a rafter with some tweezers and placed it into position.  I let each of the rafters overhang a little, this made it so I could line them up better to the plans and so that none of them would be too short.   The rafters on the hips were a little more difficult to apply because you cant get it to lay flat, thanks to the gables.  With a little patience, they went on smooth.  After the rafters glue dried, I came back through and trimmed them up flush with the roof.

Brackets

I debated on how to approach this step a little.  I couldn’t decide if I should build the brackets under the eaves first and then glue them in, or assemble them in stages on the structure.  I decided to go with the later but I am still not convinced that this was the best course to take.  I will describe the way I took, but will leave it up to you to decide which way to go.

I cut 14 pieces of .030x .040″ strip to a length of about 3′ 6″ long.  I then cut an equal amount .010x .030″ strip to a length of 3′ 3″.  I then took a piece of the .030x .040″ strip and dabbed a little glue and placed it on the seventh board down.  I then took one of the .010x .030″ pieces and glued it below the first.  I then repeated this step 13 more times around the station according to the placement on the plans.

Once the two pieces have setup a little, I glued on a strip of more .030x .040″ styrene all the way around on the tops of the brackets that will be a beam to support the rafters.  Be very careful because even though the glue may be dry on the bracket, they are very weak.  Adding the styrene strip around the top will give support, it will still be weak until you add the angled supports to the brackets.  I first added the long pieces of the beam on the front and back of the station, I left them long so I had a little wiggle room if needed.  I then cut and added the beams on the left and right sides.  Again, when it all dried, I trimmed and filed the extra down.

To build the angled portion of the brackets, we needed to cut some .020x .030″ strip to fit.  Using the Chopper to create these has on major drawback, it is very difficult to cut multiple pieces of strip with angles on both ends and get them to be the same length.  This is because the Chopper uses the guided to get angles and doesn’t pivot like a miter box would.  After a few failed attempts at trying to eyeball these, I knew I need a solution to cut 14 identical pieces…. so I built a rough jig for the Chopper.  The jig would give me the perfect angle and the perfect length on every cut, it was so simple that I couldn’t believe I didn’t figure this out on earlier projects.

To build the jig, I cut a 1″ x 1″ square from some .040″ thick sheet styrene.  The angle is a simple 45°, so I drew a line where I needed the guides (remember, you are building it upside down, so, triple check the direction of the angle).  Because the piece needing to be cut is .o2o” thick, I used the same thickness material to hold the strip.  I first added a large strip of .250″ along the line that was drawn.  Next I added a piece of the same size of strip styrene next to the .250″ with the 45° angle cut out of the end.  Make sure that this angle is facing the opposite direction of the end that you will insert the strip to be cut from.  Also you need to figure out at what point to glue this strip in at.  It is fine if it is a little shallow, but don’t make it too deep.  I then added another .250″ strip onto the other side to box in the .020x 030″ strip.  I then added some scrap .250″ strip to support the rest of the jig.

Using the jig is a cakewalk, just slide the strip into it to get your first angle and then flip the strip over after each cut so your angle corresponds with the piece glued into the jig.  It may take a few attempts to get the right length, just finely adjust your fence to find it.  Each piece you cut should come out perfect and uniform with each other.  One helpful tip is not to clamp down the jig, only the fence because you need to be able to get each piece out that you cut.

Once you have the angles all cut, cut, you can now start glueing them all into place.  I simply added a little bit of glue to each end and then set them into place.  After the glue had dried, I then painted all of the brackets, beams and the rafters with the same Polly Scale L&N (414380) Grey used on the trim and wainscot.  I then glued the roof to the beams and the walls and finally finished this step.

Roofing

This is the one big area on the station that deviated from the prototype.  On the prototype it has asphalt shingles and in N Scale, I haven’t found a product that I am that big of a fan of.  The laser cut ones are cut from a card stock paper that is too thick.  It passes for shake or slate but not asphalt.  So, I decided to do a tar paper roof in a similar color as the prototype.

First get some simple white 20 pound copy paper and cut a few .25″ strips.  I roughly cut the angles into the strips on the Chopper and when I had them to the right length I glued them into place with a small bead of super glue or CA.  I circled the roof until I found my way to the peak.  As you get to some areas, you will need to make a few custom cuts to get the strips to fit properly.  You will also need to add some paper into the gable ends as well.  You will also need to cut a piece to cover the peak and the four ridges as well.  For the peak I use a .25″ strip, but on the ridges I only used strips cut to about .0625″ wide.  After all of the pieces were glued in, I gave the paper a few washes of india ink/alcohol mixture.

I needed to add a little chimney so I cut away a small part of the paper on the ridge so I could add some foil to look like flashing around the chimney.  I then drilled a little hole that would fit 1/16″ styrene rod through the peak.  I glued a small piece that cut to fit into the hole and had it rise about 1′ from the peak.  I then added a 3′ long piece of of 3/64″ rod on top of the 1/16″ rod.  After the glue dried I painted it with Polly Scale Stainless Steel (414296) and then weathered it with the india ink/alcohol mix.

Final Details

For the two doors, I had to scratch build them because it is a four foot wide door and commercially it doesn’t exist as far as I know.  I first cut some .010x .040″ strip for the styles (vertical) and for 3 of the 4 rails (horizontal).  For the one remaining rail, I used .o1ox .o60″ strip.  The lengths were cut to fit the opening which may vary on you structure.  I glued the strips to a small piece of .010″ sheet styrene that was slightly larger then the door would be, this allowed it to be glued in easier.  I painted  the panels of the door the lighter SP Lettering Greg and the frame in the darker L&N Grey.

In all of the windows, I glued in acetate or clear plastic for the glazing.  After the glue setup, I tried a method that I have heard many use with great success for the shades.  You use simple masking tape, thats it.  So with a pair of scissors I cut a few small squares and stuck them to the back of the windows and they really looked great.

Above the two doors, I added a lamp reflectors made by Titchy Train Group (2503).  and painted them to match the trim with the L& N Grey.  Lastly I added the signage, such as the traditional Pennsylvania Railroad station signs and a small Railway Express Agency sign to on of the windows.

Conclusion

All in all this was a fun little station to build, however it wasn’t the basic structure I thought it would be.  If anyone decides to build this, I hope that you will share your photos with us.