Yesterday was the deadline for the scratch building competition.
5 People threw their hats in the to the ring.
Let’s start with John’s creation:
“Dear Al…
The Shed Story now begins…
Two days into Al’s challenge I offered some “Work In Progress” photos…
This is a small freight shed in 1/4 inch American O Scale…
The building now has a roof…
I intend to add a ramp and a small matching office…
How I built my freight shed…
The shed portion came first…
The covered bridge kit was first printed out as it comes…
It was then cut up to give me the pieces that I needed…
Those pieces were then copied at 135% to give me what I wanted…
The width of the boards, how high the boards needed to be and so on…
These were then glued to cardboard salvaged from soda can boxes…
They were glued to both sides of the cardboard and both sides were
scribed with an awl to give texture and relief (making it look like individual boards),
Card models tend to need interior support to keep warping down…
Balsa is popular but in building the Porterhouse I discovered I could use card as well
The use of card gives detail to the interior walls of the building…
The interior detail is important when one is in O scale and plans to have open doors!
The door opening was sized from the doors of Al’s barn kit… printed and then copied at 150%
Note, the ends were cut before the interior detailing was added…
All was measured to the best ability…
And space was left so that it would all fit together
Once I had my walls finished…
I glued the shed together…
Once the shed was together so I had a better idea of how it would all fit, I began the base… The platform was made of foam core board.
I framed the foam core board to allow for track height and the height of the floor of a box or flat car.
Once I had the platform roughed in, the detailing came…
I used Al’s wooden tunnel set printed as it comes…
Actually I reduced it to 95% on the print out…
HO kit, printed a little undersized… For an O scale building…
That is “Eye Scale” for you!
The prints were glued to double thick card.
The timbers were cut and then it was all glued to another print…
and glued to more card… this allowed me to scribe the boards behind the timber framing…
When I went to make the top of the platform, I did not find a print that suited me…
So I made my own texture and boards…
Double layer of card glued together, random painting with craft paints…
Boards were cut at 1/4 inch to represent 2 by 12 boards…
The finished platform…
And the shed glued in place…
The doors for the shed were made from the barn kit as mentioned above… Four printed layers and one layer of card all assembled as mentioned when sharing the shed platform build.
All that is missing is a roof now…
Now I build the roof…
the base is again a double layer of card that has been scribed to represent boards.
I took one of the textures from Al’s concrete and asphalt sheet.
I chose the one that looked most like asphalt (probably for a road)
Printed it up and then copied the print at 160% to get the size I needed..
This time I tried something different… I purchased some tissue paper and spray glue.
I sprayed a standard (American) 8.5 inch by 11 inch sheet of printing paper and then put it glue side down in the tissue…
I wanted texture and something that would absorb the ink and fade it a bit…
I cut the resulting print into scale 2 foot by 16 foot sheets…
Once I had the sheets of “Asphalt” and the base, the time had arrived to “roof the roof” — Layering the “Asphalt” sheets…
Once I had the “Asphalt” on the roof…
I needed to frame it…
This allows the roof to be removable and keeps it on the building as well.
I hope you have enjoyed all these..
I do apologize for the length of this…
I hope the details help others…
Here is the completed build as it is so far…
I built a ramp to go with my freight shed…
An office will follow soon.
The ramp construction may give more detailfor things in my tutorial on the shed…
When building my structures I use “recycled” cardboard from soda can boxes and similar boxes.
I used to remove the waxy side “decorations” with steel wool.
I now use a rubber sanding sponge.. Faster and it does not cut my fingers.
I also use Aleene’s “Tacky Glue” for most of my work.
After securing the print to the prepared card, I scribe the board lines with a cheap awl that I got from Harbor Freight…
This gives definition and a 3d effect to the boards.
Once I had the sides done, I cut “boards” to finish them
These were from the Wood tunnel print.
Once that was complete I glued the side pieces of the ramp together.
Once I had the ramp together, I had to stiffen it up before adding the top boards.
The top boards are painted card (Random browns)
To give the effect I was looking for and to match the planking that I made for the shed platform.
My completed ramp with the rest of the shed and its platform…
I only made one ramp but there are two or three places that I can use it…
I mentioned that I wanted to build a little office to go with my freight shed…
I did and here it is!
When I built my freight shed that was inspired by Al’s contest…
I decided that it needed a shed to be an office…
Today I built that shed!
The walls are from left over extra prints from Al’s covered bridge.
The windows are from a small shed that is sold with a water tank..
The door is from one of the Garages that is part of the “Big Kahuna Deal”
“Wood” for the floor and the interior of the roof comes from his Corn Elevator…
(Also part of the Big Kahuna Deal).
The roof is from one of his engine house kits (the brick one).
The windows have “glass” from the “blister” off a package of track.
The windows and the door are in an open position to “invite” viewers in…
Here is what my “Office” looks like with the ramp and shed.
This is the intended position…
BUT… Since the ramp, office, and shed are three separate models…
A huge thanks to John.
Here’s what else I’ve had in for the competition:
“Hi Al,
Best wishes from down under and trusting you will stay safe, fit and well during this challenging time.
I attach a variation of your Corn Store converted into a coaling tower. As you can see work in progress, the piles of coal and in the elevator are from the packing around a computer and the lumps of coal in the wagons are chunks of old flip-flop shoe sole.
Best wishes to all your subscribers
Andrew
Andrew
Queensland, Australia”
Now on to Nathan.
He built the Old Saloon, and added an outhouse!
“The start of the ghost town.
Realized every good salon needs an, out house, out back, privy, or necessary just in case.
Nathan”
“Al,
Here is my original cottage made from several of your printouts.
I have enjoyed making 8 of your buildings so far which has made my quarantine bearable.
Steve
Ohio”
“Hi Al,
Been busy finishing some kit bashing to make my own designs.
Dana Green
via Maine”
A big thanks to everyone above for entering.
I thought they’d be a lot more entrants, but on the upside, it makes the voting easier.
Please just leave a comment below with the name of who you think should win:
John with his Freight house.
Andrew with his coaling tower.
Nathan with his outhouse.
Steve with his cottage.
Dana with his wild west buildings.
The winning builing will be put on the site for everyone to download for free.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if you want your own little project to come to life.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
I think that Andrew’s Coaling Tower is the best of the very good entries. Difficult to choose.
My vote for winner: WILD WEST TOWN
A very difficult choice, but I like Nathan’s Old Saloon/Outhouse best.
My vote is for Andrew with his coaling tower.
Hi Al
I would like to vote for Andrew with his coaling tower. This reminds me of the Coaling Tower on Hull Docks in East Yorkshire as I have long held an ambition to replicate the tower on my layout currently under construction, and having the chance to download his tower would be wonderful
Nathan with his outhouse
John for his build and detailed “how to”.
Difficult choice, but I vote for Andrews coaling tower.
All are brilliant models and are inspiring.
Peter..
Nathans outhouse ..Dangerous Dave
The coaling tower gets my vote
(by a narrow margin over the saloon)
Andrew’s coaling tower for me.
All of them are great but for me Andrew’s coaling tower just squeaks out in front.
I like the coaling tower
All very good but by a squeak my vote goes to Nathan’s outhouse
Andrews coaling tower really caught my eye. That’s my vote!
They’re all great ! hugely creative & John’s ‘manual’ is outstanding but my fave is the coaling tower…..
Andres coaling tower.
Coaling tower
Have to be John’s. Though the others are good too.
DANA, with the Wild West town
coaling tower by Andrew
coaling tower Andrew
John with his Freight house.
John- best built-
Dana with his wild west buildings.
Dana with the Wild West town.
Coaling Tower gets my vote, followed by Ghost Saloon 2nd, and Freight House 3rd. All were really creative, and a lot of work.
After going back and forth several times I finally chose John’s Freight House.
Nathan, with the old saloon. Excellent job!
Coaling Tower
John’s Freight shed and office. Brilliant!!
Nathan Out house
I thought that the freight house was the best.
Andrew coaling tower.
John’s Freight House for internal detail. But all are excellent.
They are all exceptionally good , but I think John takes it with a very good breakdown on how to build it
All great concepts and well done, but my vote goes to Andrew and the coalng tower.
Mn Dan
i all ways in joy what john builds and would like to know what printer do u use
Cooling tower.
I like the look of the saloon but…
Coaling tower adds operation to the layout, delivering coal to the yard and servicing the locos. This is my first choice.
Second choice is the warehouse. Nice functional building. Built in a realistic manner. Almost every railroad needs one.
And thanks to Al for all of his efforts. (Honorable mention)
Nathan’s out house
Very difficult, but I like Nathan’s Old Saloon/Outhouse best…… a lot of character.
Gary M from Long Island
Coaling tower
I’m going for the saloon
All were inspired and done well…but my vote would have to go to Nathen and his ghost town saloon & privy.
Andrew by a whisker over John. John’s how-to was very informative. He should get a special prize for that.
I like the Ghost Saloon and related outhouse.
Nicely done to all of you. My vote is for John. A labor of love with such great looking details and realistic effects. Wonderfully done.
Jim AZ
Dana with his wild west buildings
I vote for the saloon with its outhouse.
Andrew and his ‘ coaling tower ‘…….great job.
For me, John’s freight house wins, closely followed by Andrew’s coaling tower. A huge thank you to Al for organising this contest. If you do it again some time,I will most definitely participate. Soren
All were great. But my vote is for Andrew.
HI,
I can’t believe that’s there isn’t more for JOHN’s , I guess he’s like a PRO.
But I do have have to go with Nathan’s, although I suppose he might nave been out of toilet paper at the time. LOL.
John’s shed office and ramp. Great looking and detailed inside and out.
coaling tower
Hmmmm. Tough one but I really enjoyed John’s freight house with his narrative but all were wonderful. This is what keeps this hobby alive. Finding odds and ends and then putting them all together.
Nathen’s saloon & privy.
Like the others said, this is a thought choice, but I will vote for Andrew’s Coaling Tower.
Andres coaling tower.
Andrew has my vote but great job to all
Andrew with his coaling tower.
Coaling tower
Definitely: Andrew with his coaling tower.
The freight house with the how-too is number one. All where great. I am going to order up the printouts so I’ll be ready for Al’s next contest.
John,s shed and ramp and office. a lot of detail that makes the looks of the building.
All were excellent but I think Johns freight housr was the best along with his documentry
I sure wish I was this talented. All were premo! Although, I thought the saloon/out house was the one to come away with the award
Nathan’s Saloon. Nice touch with the hanging sign – the next good wind will take it down!
Dead heat between Nathan’s Outhouse and Andrew’s Coaling Tower. It’s a cop-out, I know, but I just can’t decide between them.
dana ,wild west
John just by a hair over Andrew.
Nathan’s Saloon and Outhouse!
john’s freight house.
Although all were great I’d have to say Andrew’s coaling tower
The coaling tower gets my vote!!!
John and his freight house
Nathan with his outhouse
The photos of all the buildings are great. I save most cylindrical salt boxes and oatmeal boxes. I made a beautiful quonset hut from a salt box cut in half lengthwise. Also large vertical corn silos. I save all the “Cascade” dishwasher detergent boxes as the card is very durable for roadways, sidewalks, rail crossings, walls and roofs of buildings. To use boxes or container from various household items saves money from buying many materials, and is really a way of re-cycling things that otherwise would be discarded (or re-cycled outside of the household)
D.J.Radanovich, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Hey, Big Al from Silver Springs, Nv.. I’m just starting an H.O. layout and like reading comments and things to learn. Just picked up a trick. By gluing tissue to card stock can make lots stuff like road beds, roofs, even stucco siding. Thanks, the all the projects look fantastic. Keep up the work, don’t let little set backs get you down, its all part if the learning process. Big Al
I should have included this: The old ghost town saloon reminded me of the Stoneville Saloon in Alzada, Montana. It is on US Hwy 212, west of the Black Hills of South Dakota, and north of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, in the SE most corner of Montana. It is a very welcoming bikers bar. I’ve had good times there. The sign on the road says “Cheap drinks – Lousy food”, but they have the best coffee and the best home made blueberry pie and home made ice cream. Just thought some might be interested in this bit of Americana.
D.J.Radanovich, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Andrew’s Coaling Tower. Very innovative.
Nathan’s Old Saloon really caught my eye. I love the sign hanging by just one end of the contact wire. I could just imagine Clint Eastwood riding through town on his horse! All all of the structures were very, very impressive and would be coveted on my layout! The addition of the greenery lends itslef to crating that eally old appearance. WELL DONE!
Johns freight House very good guide lines
I vote for the O gauge freight shed. I loved the tutorial for building it. The explanation of where the office pieces came from and some of the detailing should be a book. I have saved this article in my Archives.
Thank you,
Max
My vote is Wild West Town by Dana
Dana’s Wild West
Al, thanks for all the information you send out, have enjoyed receiving your post each day, and have gotten some great ideas for my own layout.
My vote is for John’s freight house, shows great detail and planning, and the narrative doesn’t hurt either.
All were great submissions,but I have to give a nod to Andrew for the coaling tower.
John’s freight house
All entrants are really great. But although the coaling tower is done well, I am voting for the freight house.
They are all great but i have to go with John. I wish i could do any of them
Wild West!
Dana’s Old West Town
Andrews coaling tower
I have to go with the Wild West town. All are great though.
The calling tower,especially the base, has my vote! They are all great and show real workmanship and imagination.
I think for the contest John’s scratch built freight shed is the top winner. 1. He shows how it was accomplished and not just a finished product. 2. even the finished product shows that there is much more work that went into it. 3. yes this is an item that is probably used in a country scene (I live in the country so I appreciate it more) then in a dense city scene. It seems most people like city scenes where they can put more stuff in as small an area as it will allow. I have 4X8 area that holds only 2 farms.
Andrew’s coaling tower is my winner
Freight house
Johns freight shed is brilliant!
Wild West Scene!! Awesome!!
Everyone did an excellent job creating new buildings, but I liked John’s effort the best of all of them. Very close.
Andrew’s coaling tower.
John’s shed! It’s careful detail in and out make it a true reproduction in smaller scale of the real thing. All are great and the choice is very difficult, but John’s shed and platform get my vote.
Dana and his wild west buildings get my vote. This looks like something I could do myself.
Nathan’s saloon & outhouse- looks authentic, nice detail.
Andrew’s coaling tower. The base sealed the deal
They are all great but my vote is for the Coaling Tower.
john gets my vote
They’re all wonderful and so creative! It’s a tough choice but I have to cast my vote for Nathan and his wonderfully run down Saloon and Outhouse. Dana’s wild western town would be a close second with its gallows humor.
All five entries are quite worthy candidates.
I found that Nathan’s Saloon ‘with a path’ caught my attention.
(That comes from the realtor’s term, ‘bath and a path’…)
He gets my vote.
I vote for Nathan’s Old Saloon and Outhouse . It was a very hard choice between it and the coaling station. All of them were great.
John’s freight shed gets my vote
For me it came down to the freight shed and coaling tower. A hard choice especially with all the detailed how to for the shed. In the end I choose the coaling tower for what it adds to a layout
It’s got to be JOHN! He did a wonderful job, But he also did a wonderful service for us by showing HOW he did it! Lee
I like them all, but the details of construction provided with John’s scratch built freight shed take it to the top for me.
my thoughts are torn they are all very good indeed, I never imagined what one could construct out of printable buildings. that being said it is a very tough decision but I am going with the saloon love the coaling tower as well, but really like the saloon
My vote goes to John shed and my hearth goes to Dana for the old town.
Today I am ordering The beginner guide from Al..
I am mostly in switching operation interest LIONEL ”o,, gauge.
But I may go into landscaping with all the help, I get here.
The nice about this hobby, is that there room for everyone ri find is niche.
Nothing is wrong, as long that you have pleasure in doing what you like.
There must not be any judgment.
Hope ,you do well in these nard time with the covid-19.
A BIG THANKS TO ALASTAIR FOR THIS GREAT SITE..
Love you all.
Léo QC.Canada
Hi Al, my vote goes to John with his freight house, a very detailed model with an excellent description of how he did it. All were excellent and a hard decision to make.
Keep up the great work Al.
Stay safe everyone.
Andrews coal tower has my vote!
Nathan
Hi Al, these all look awesome. These guys all deserve a lot of credit for the amount of detail and work they put into the project! That said, I’ll cast my vote for John with his Freight house.Thanks!
Al,
My vote goes to John for the quality and innovation contained in his work and his willingness to educate the rest of us who are just embarking into this area of model railroading.
They are all good. My vote is for John!
My vote is for John. The framing inside the building really put it over the top. Talk about attention to detail!
I like Nathan’s Saloon with Out House.
The Roanoak and Valley Creek Railroad vote for the coal tower.
Hi,
My vote goes to Dana with his wild west buildings.
It looks brilliant!
coaling tower
Andrew’s coal tower has my vote.
I vote for Andrew’s design.
John gets my vote, especially for the very detailed pictures and narrative showing his “ how to “
My vote is for John. The freight house, loading dock and ramp is just amazing . Such fine detail. The other entries were also great, but John added that extra touch that stands out.
I vote for John because of his detail
John for most creative.
I vote Andrew
Excellent competition with a great effort by all the competitors. My best wishes to all who submitted their projects.
In the final analysis I have to vote for Andrew’s coal tower.
Ken
Our vote goes to Dana and the Wild West Town.
John s freighthouse
Great efforts by all, but I vote for John’s shed as best representing what scratch building is all about. He really went the extra mile in terms of the level of detailing and duplication of prototype construction methods with all the interior bracing, etc.
John with his Freight house.
John’s entry made it to the very pinnacle of all the other entries in my very humble opinion. His is el numero uno.
John gets my vote
My vote goes to John and his shed. His entry is completely scratch built with detailed instructions.
my vote is to Andrew, That is a great coal yard and tower
Hard choice, John for detail and Nathan for originality. I’ll have to go with Nathan.
Hi Al,
Hard choice. But my vote is as follows: #1 Saloon & outhouse; #2 Coal tower and #3 the Freight Station. All are great and I really enjoyed John’s ‘how to’ on his build.
Al, by chance do you, or any of your other readers, have the plan to the layout on your letterhead?
Regards,
Allen
Cali, the Left Side of the US
Love the wild west town.
I’m for the shed. It’s detailed and very well done.
I vote for John’s entry. He put a lot of labor and ingenuity into his buildings and then provided a detailed “how to” guide so we might try and build our own.
I liked Andrew’s coal tower the best, although all the entries are fantastic.
I’m not sure if this is where I should vote or not, but here goes. I think all of the entrants are remarkable and amazing, but my favorite has to be John’s entry. It is flawless and would fit any layout, I think.
A lot of work went into John’s Freight shed and office, so this my vote but I got to say everyone’s buildings were really nice.
JOHN. His Freight House is well thought out and executed.
This wasn’t easy. I would say my final vote would be Coal building by Andrew. I kept going back and forth because they all had areas that were outstanding. And I got ideas from all of them. The coal building isn’t something I see very often and it showed just enough to make it work.
I did like the landscape on the saloon and the detail frame work on the freight building, the color on the cottage, and I’m impressed with the western town.
Wow! great work – inspiring! All are great & unique. Each made great use of the basic materials.
If I had to pick a winner for pure scratch-building, it would be John’s freight house.
I vote for Andrew’s Coaling Tower
The detail of John’s freight shed is just amazing. As much as I like the other entries, especially the coaling tower, John’s is tops from my point of view.
BURT FROM COLORADO My vote is for Coal Tower
John with his Freight house.
John’s freight house!
Really put a lot of scratch into it.
Dana’s wild west town
I’m going with the freight shed. They’re all great. Hard to choose.
Nathan’s Old Saloon/Outhouse best.
I vote for the coal tower, but there’s much effort in all of them.
wild west tops it
I vote for Andrew’s coal tower.
Truly wonderful work on all.
after i get some build done i comment
Dana, WILD WEST !!! Who Dosent LOVE A HANGING !!!!
All great! Freight house, dock, office =#1.
Jack
SWFL