# Maintence Bay and Fuel Tank in 7/8th scale -- Progress & Updates



## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

A friend of mine models industrial railroads in 7/8the scale and asked if I would make a little addition for his layout. So, we are going to work on a diesel fueling station and a small maintenance bay for the critters.

First up is the fuel point. This is an 850-gallon, gravity fed, cylindrical tank on 3 trestle bends, about 7 feet height to the bottom of the tank. The trestle bents are first to do. Cut all material to the required size and make an assembly jig to hold the parts in place.










Load up parts in the jug. Make sure everything is up tight to their respective stops.










Use TiteBond III glue with 23 gauge pins to nail down the first cross brace.










Carefully remove the bent from the jig and nail on another cross brace.










Bents come out of the assembly jig nearly identical.










At this point there is nothing holding the tops and bottoms to the posts, except a little grip from the cross braces. At the drill press, drill 1/8” holes thru the tops and bottoms into the posts. About 1” total depth.










Cut some lengths of 1/8” dia bamboo bar-b-que skewers and glue in the holes. Bamboo is tougher than woodpecker lips.










With about 84 extra hands and a flat surface, glue and nail cross braces to lash the bents together. Drill and glue some decorative nut.bolt.washer on the bents.










Glue and nail some planking on the back as a catwalk.










That’s it for today. Next time is work on the fuel tank.


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

The fuel tank starts out life as a length of 2-1/4” diameter, heavy wall, cardboard mailing tube. The ends of the tube are plugged with turned wooden ends. Cardstock is glued on the outside of the tube to simulate rolled steel shell halves.










The next step is to “rivet” the tank shells and ends together. Use two lengths of 1/32” thick strip brass to make hole-drilling jigs. The rivets are 18 gauge escutcheon pins with a shank diameter of 0.052”. So, the holes in the drilling jigs need to be slightly under that, #56 drill will do. The holes are on 5/32” centers.










Temporarily tack the longer hole drilling jog along the seem of the tank. And then drill away.










Curve the shorter jig, pin it to the tank ends and drill.










The jig helps make nice, straight, evenly spaced holes in a really big hurry. 180 holes drill in less then 15 minutes.

The escutcheon pins are 3/4" long, which is too long. Get out some nippers and cut them to 3/8”. Angle the nipper rather steeply to get a good sharp point. Cut a gillion and drive in the holes.










Starting to look pretty good.










Now line up some detail parts. Bend some 1/16” brass rod as hold down straps for the fuel tank. These straps are functional. Each end has a length of 0 x 80 thread with nuts and washers to secure the tank to the stand. In the event the tank needs to come off, just unscrew the straps and pull it off. The other detail parts include a water tank hatch and plumbing stuff.










Install the tank and glue on all the “do-dads”










The fuel hose is a length of 14 gauge copper wire. Straighten and bend to look like a draped hose. Not too bad.










Next time we will get started on the maintenance bay.


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Another great model! Thanks for the how-to too!


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Is this a 1 can of pop project? At first I thought you were using the can for the water tank, but no! Funny seeing a can in every picture, it must be the fuel that feeds you. LOL  

Craig


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Jim and Craig. Good to see you guys again. Yes, soda cans, the best ruler of all.

Today work starts on the maintenance bay. There are several “experiments” I want to try with the maintenance bay. First up are the windows, 4 all together. The experiment on the windows is to come up with a simple technique that uses commonly available materials. They have to look correct for scale yet be durable. Real window muttons are wood, but that would be impossible to do in scale. These window muttons are from 14-gauge copper electrician’s wire. Find some leftover wire.










Straightening wire like this is easy to do. Uncoil it and straighten obvious kinks by hand. Clamp one end of the wire in a vice and chuck the other end in a drill. Pull back tight and turn on the drill. As the wire twists it straightens out. Stop when it’s done. Cut the wire to handy lengths. This tricks on steel wire too.










The muttons are “glued” together with soft solder. Cut lengths of wire and make a holding jig for the solder process.










Load the jig and warm up the soldering iron.










Flux all the joints, tin the iron and solder the joints. Use just a “TT” little bit of solder. Don’t need much.










The jig looks rather burned in the photo, but actually there is very little damage. This one could do 5 or 6 more mutton sets. It’s a nice technique. Takes a little practice on how much solder to use.

Next cut some strips of wood for the sash frames. The corners are notched for a lap joint.










Make a little setting jig to glue the sash frames together.










Run the sash frames over the table saw using a thin kerf blade. Drop the muttons in the slots. Apply a small drop of CA glue to hold the muttons in place. CA glue is not a permanent bond, water will dissolve it. The muttons get locked in place later.










Trim off the excess mutton material. The sashes are done. Glue and 23 gauge pin window casing around the sash. The casing serves as both the window frame and exterior window trim.










The window glass is “Lexan”. Lexan is a plastic glass replacement material. It’s available at Lowe’s or Home Depot. Lexan is nice material. It cut very easily, as opposed to “plexiglass” which is very hard and brittle. Lexan does not fade in direct UV. Cut pieces of Lexan to fit inside the window frames. Don’t install yet.










Paint the window before putting the glass in. The windows turned out very nice. 










Next time we’ll finish the windows and start framing the maintenance bay.


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Very nice!


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Very nice. Lots of good information and ideas here, even for those who not building a similar project.


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks fellas. The last thing to do on the windows is drop in the Lexan panes and glue in some thin strips on the back to secure the panes. Touch up paint as needed and clean the glass.










Now get started on the maintenance bay building. The foundation is a 12 x 14 sheet of 1/2" exterior grade plywood. Glue and nail a perimeter foundation around the edge, leaving an opening for the door.










The foundation has a brick and mortar exterior. The brick and mortar is a tile trim sheet from Lowe’s. The sheet comes 12 x 12 with 1/2" x 1” broken faced tile adhered to a mesh backing. The tiles are overlapped so the sheet interlocks with another sheet.










These little bricks look really nice. They are, however, somewhat difficult to work with. The backing is very stiff and hard to cut. I ended up breaking strips off. The sheet also cuts very easily with a tile saw. So, if you have access to a tile saw, cut strips that way.

Glue the brick and mortar strips to the foundation perimeter. Use a strip of foam rubber to aid in clamping.










“Liquid Nails” is the glue to use. The exterior grade or heavy duty Liquid Nails is absolutely superior for wood, stone, concrete or other common construction materials.










Use “one-zee” “two-zee” bricks to work around the corners of the door. Nail down some Code 250 rail centered on the door.










Nail down some 2 x 10 floor planking so the maintenance crew has something better then dirt to work on.










Nail down and paint a drip edge strip on top of the foundation perimeter so it hangs over the brickwork. Treat the bay floor and underside of the foundation with Thompson’s Waterseal.










The tile sheet makes a very nice looking brick foundation.










We’ll get started on framing the walls next time.


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Wall and roof framing follows standard full sized practice. The wall studs are 2 x 6 on 24” centers. Headers over the windows are 6 x 6 and 6 x 8 over the bay door. Everything exactly to 7/8ths scale. Get the lumber package all cut and layout the sills.










Use the window sets to square up the walls. A drop of glue and 23 gauge pins make the frame surprisingly strong.










Frame the walls using standard 2 x carpenter’s framing practice.










At this point framed walls normally get raised, squared and plumbed to the foundation. Before doing that, nail on the siding first. With the siding on, the walls are much easier to paint.

The siding for the maintenance bay is called “Dutch Lap” siding, or “Pattern 105 Lap”. It is a lap style siding with a deep cove cut on the top edge. To make the siding, cut and plane strips of 1/8” x 3/4" stock. That is very close to 1 x 10 in 7/8ths scale. Set up a round end or “core box” bit in the router table. Clamp down a fence and feather boards to guide the strips through the router table. Here’s the router table set up.










Run each strip thru to get the desired profile.










Replace the round end bit with a straight bit and cut the rabbit lap on the bottom.

Glue and nail the siding with 23 gauge pins. 










Any little gaps on the tops and bottom of the windows will get fixed with drip edge trim.










The back wall has no openings, so it’s straightforward. The door opening will get a little drip edge trim across the top. The spreader on the bottom of the door gets cut out after installation.










Next time we'll get the walls on the foundation and start on the roof.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Very nice! Making the siding is quite interesting.


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

The Dutch Lap siding looks very nice. It turned out much better the I thought. The cove detail is very clear, both close in and at distance. I ripped out another 2000 scale feet of it, so there is plenty for some more projects.

The maintenance bay has a lean-to type roof made up from half king post trusses on 24” centers. The trusses are 2 x 6 material with plywood gussets. Make a simple jig to hold all the truss parts together for assembly.










The gussets go in with TiteBond III. Clamp them together tightly until dry. There are no nails on the gussets, just glue. The oversized gussets should be enough.










Finally have some calm weather, so get out the paint sprayer. Masked off the wall sections and paint. The exterior is stained with “Olympic Maximum Deck fence and Siding Stain” from Lowe’s. It is a solid colored stain that goes on bare wood. It comes as a tint base and they paint boys/girls mix the color. This color is “Winning Red”










Olympic Max is very nice stain. It sprays beautifully and dries to the touch quickly. It takes about a month to fully cure. We’ve been using this stain on the 1/6-scale buildings in Pahrump for a few years. No cracks, blisters or anything.

The interior is an oil based exterior grade white paint.










Glue and nail the wall sections to the foundation.










Glue and nail the trusses










Apply siding on the trusses and paint up. 










The stain is still wet in the photo, it will dry darker.

With the sprayer out, I finished up the fuel stand.










The draped fuel hose turned out just right.










And the catwalk.










Next time we will get on the trim work and do the roof.


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Today we will get the trim and roofing done and wrap this project up.

Trim is pretty much casing out the corners and around the door. It is 1 x 4 board all around. Paint all the trim first; nail down with 23-gauge pins and spot paint the pins. Part of the trim work includes installing bird stops between the trusses. Don't want "critters" getting in.










Next up is the roof. This roof is “canvas and tar”. My 7.5” gauge buddy out in Pahrump uses this method on his Gauge 1 buildings. Some of them have lived outside for over 10 years. The buildings are a little beat up, but the roofs are rock solid. Start buy gluing and nailing 1 x 10 lap boarding.










Finished planking looks gorgeous, but soon covered up.










Brush on a rather heavy coat of slightly thinned TiteBond III glue. About 2 or 3 drops of water per ounce thins the glue so it brushes very evenly. Lay down an over sized sheet of heavy weave muslin cloth. Smooth out the cloth and trim to the edge after dry.










The “tar” is a roof patching compound from DAP. It has all kinds of rubberized polymers, silicones and other fancy stuff. It has a 50-year guarantee against cracks and leaks.










Squirt some sealant into a cup and add 2 or 3 drops of water to very slightly thin. It brushes on easily just a bit thin. Paint on a liberal coat. After drying, the coat still shows the texture of the muslin cloth.










While waiting for stuff to dry, use up leftover materials to make a workbench.










With that, this project is done.










Another view










No maintenance shop is complete without a girlie bikini babe calendar.










Thank you all for the kind words and checking in during the build. Had a lot of fun doing this.


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

I wish it was as easy as you make it look  The ultimate detail and craftsmanship!


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## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow!! Outstanding build and techniques. I love the last indoor shot, the detail is amazing. Thanks for showing us the steps.

Tommy








Rio Gracie


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Looks great. One question that's always raised my curiosity with this type of build style is this; do you use actual scale dimensional lumber or nominal lumber (2"x4" or 1 1/2" x 3 1/2")? Or does it even really make that much of a difference? I ask this because building a wood station is next on my list of buildings to construct and I wanted to attempt to frame it up like you have and am wondering what people have done in the past. 

Craig


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Terrific work once again Bob!!!


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for all the kind words fellow modellers. This was a fun project. This model is now in Oklahoma. It is part of a model swap project sponsored on a 7/8ths scale website where I hang out. The guy who got this is now looking for scale tools and stuff for the work bench. He does fabulous work in styrene so he'll jazz it up more then I ever could. There was some experimentation on this project. Hopefully will hear back on how it all worked out.


Craig: It's all rough sawed full 2 x stock. The 1 x stock on the roof is a little over. Trims boards are exact. The walls are 2 x 6 because the 23 gauge pins are 1/2" long and would go clear thru a 2 x 4 for the siding. In 7/8ths scale you can't tell any difference between 2 x and 1-1/2 x. In 1:20.3 I think you can still frame walls with 23 gauge pins. You will have to glue siding on. The pins are too long. In 1/29 or 1/32 you would have to use glue only I think. Even with glue, it would be a strong structure. Make up a test panel and see how it works. If you feel confident, go for the station project.


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Bob, 
I kind of figured that you used exact measurements, but wasn't to sure. My project will come eventually, but its on hold for a while while I finish the other projects on my to do list! Thanks for the info though. 

Craig


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

Very, very well done how-to.


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