Scratch Building - Buildings Drawings!!

JimmyB

JimmyB

Now retired - trains and fishing
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So I have some foam board and some spare time, so I thought I might have a go at scratch build a line-side feature or even a loco shed, as per rule 8 and my freelance layout anything goes, but can anybody direct me to some drawings to give me a bit of a heat start Ta :)
 
Being 'in the game', I often design as I go. There are many givens, such as a normal door height is 6'6", wall heights 8', 10', 12' etc., roof slopes 15°, etc.etc. in nice round multiples. Get where I'm coming from.
I designed this Engine Shed so I could build it with minimal material, and wastage. The scribed siding came in 24"x3" size. That's 48' by 6' in ½" scale. Stack two pieces, and I've got a bit of raw material, effectively 48'x 12'.
OK, so what about the 'plan'. Well 48' has to be the perimeter of the building, and I've got a height of 12' to play with, i.e. maximum height. So, I sttled on a 10' stud. That's the wall height for the untechnical ones out there. The extra 2 feet was for the peak of the roof. You will see there is a workshop annex to one side, this has a stud of 8', allowing for a 2' roof fall from the 10' wall that ain't there. Oh, we are talking of a Gn15 shed here, but the principles are still the same.

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JimmyB said:
So I have some foam board and some spare time, so I thought I might have a go at scratch build a line-side feature or even a loco shed, as per rule 8 and my freelance layout anything goes, but can anybody direct me to some drawings to give me a bit of a heat start Ta :)
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Jimmy I have a collection of plans from Garden Railways subscription they are full size pdfs that just print on a standard printer.
Mostly US based stuff but something may be suitable there is a freight station, grain elevator, loading platform and a yard office.
I can email them if you are interested. (email can be supplied via PM)
 
If doing a brick building, make the height of the bricks the same as the height as the screwdriver you use to score/stamp the bricks

It makes things easier and saves having to trim a screwdriver to size or double stamp each joint,from memory 6 or 10mm high for bricks

Also reinforce the joints with any offcuts, it helps make the buildings stronger and more durable

Dan
 
Jimmy, I made a foam board building earlier this year, the big mistake I made was to copy and scale up from a 4mm building. For some reason the model is made is massive compared to the rest of my kit buildings :think:
 
From a point of view of G Scale Buildings using a Scale Drawing does not always work sue to the elasticiticity of our suppliers ruler. Good rule of thumb is to start with a view of approximate requirements of height base from some pictures of what you want. Plenty of options on the net or in Railway Books if you have them. Then do a rough drawing of what you want freehand if you can. If there is to be any rolling stock entering any of the Buildings Goods Shed, Loco Shed etc ensure that the door will take your largest item of stock and allow some extra for that new bigger purchase. You can use some old Packing Box Card to make a Mockup. Stick this together with Tape and try it out. Then when you go for the real model base on that Drawing it should look ok because it will be.
 
The big problem with garden railway buildings is the weatherproofing. Even though I live in England I have found the sun has caused more damage then the rain but I did use waterproof materials.

Scale of buildings is another issue. The difference between a 1:29 building and a 1:20.5 building is quite significant. Its probably a good idea to build a mock up of the shape of the building using a bit of cardboard to get an idea of what it will look like next to your stock and any other buildings. The last thing I made was to 1:25 scale which is wrong for everything we run on our indoor layout but kind of looks ok with both 1:29 and 1:20.5 stock.

Searching the net can provide information on railway buildings but drawings are unfortunately rare. I found this site Depot and Yard and used the information to build this:-
IMG_3671.JPG

The sides are made from coffee stirrers glued cut and glued into place so isn't suitable for use outside. The tiles for the roof were individually cut out of thin card and glued in place - kept me quiet for a bit. We chose a different finish to the original building but at least we know it is a genuine depot design.
 
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So not quite as much time on my hands this break, managing to get outside and continue, with the layout landscaping. However I did make a start on a build "loosely" based on one of the drawing GAP GAP sent me, progress has been slow, but I have been learning new skills:

IMG_0037.jpg

IMG_0037.jpg

First G Scale scratch building
 
JimmyB said:
So not quite as much time on my hands this break, managing to get outside and continue, with the layout landscaping. However I did make a start on a build "loosely" based on one of the drawing GAP GAP sent me, progress has been slow, but I have been learning new skills:

IMG_0037.jpg

IMG_0037.jpg

First G Scale scratch building
Click to expand...

Glad to be of help, baby steps for the first few.
"Based on" is how I roll that way nobody can tell me its not "prototypical" because it is the prototype.
 
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