# The first building for the Zia and Columbine RR



## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

I have finally started constructing buildings for the Zia and Columbine RR. As my railroad is a
representation of Colorado and New Mexico narrow gage (the Zia sun symbol for NM and the
Columbine flower for CO) the scale is 1:20. I plan to have all my buildings to be representations
of historic CO and NM structures. The first building I modeled is the Dolores CO station which
was on the Rio Grande Southern RR where the "Galloping Geese" ran. 
Here is a picture of the finished station with 3 of the Geese in front.









We visited the station a couple of years ago and when I asked if they had any information that
would be helpful in modeling the building they sold me a full set of blueprints for $5! That made
things much easier than modeling from photos.
I started with a form built of pink insulation board glued with Loctite molding and paneling
adhesive in a caulking gun tube and fastened with sheet rock screws.









The roof is made from salvaged corrugated plastic political signs glued with PL polyurethane
adhesive in a caulking gun tube. I had a hard time finding anything that would stick to the sign
material very well and not melt the pink foam.









There 6 LED's to light the inside of the building, 3 in the upstairs living quarters and 3 in the
waiting room. There is no interior detail except for a counter with a dispatcher in the alcove on
the front of the station. It turned out that even that detail is hard to see.

The windows were cut from 3/16 inch thick plexiglass then the table saw was used to mill
grooves for the framing. The framing was made from styrene rods of various sizes laid in the
grooves and attached with plastic weld. The doors were made in the same way. I left the
protective paper on the plexiglass until the frames were painted to act as masking.









The vertical wains coating and the clapboard siding were milled from cedar fence pickets using
the table saw. I milled the texture on both sides of the board and then split it in two with the band
saw. The PL polyurethane adhesive worked well for gluing the wood to the foam. I tried Loctite
III wood glue but the moisture warped the wood before the glue set up. It might work if I could
have clamped it but that would have been quite difficult. The roofing material is regular mineral coated 90# roofing felt attached with Henry 208 roofing
cement. I hope this will stand up to the weather better modeling the shingles on the prototype.
The windows and doors were installed using latex caulk and all the joints in the siding were also
caulked. I tried to make the building as water proof as possible since it will be left outside all
year. 










I made a jig to aid in construction of the roof brackets. The curved part was laminated of 2 pieces
which were heated over a burner on the stove, bent to shape on the jig, clamped in place and
them plastic weld applied. The straight pieces were then applied.









The station front.









The station back.









The station north end.









The station south end.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Absolutely beautiful depot Winn!







What a great setting for your station with the hills in the background. Love those pictures.


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## railcandy (Dec 19, 2010)

*A+++* is all I can say. Real fine looking station !


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## dieseldude (Apr 21, 2009)

That looks awesome! Nice job. I like your idea of scoring the plexiglass and glueing the mullions into it. Very cool! 
-Kevin.


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## parkdesigner (Jan 5, 2008)

Wow, Wow, Wow!!! That is a wonderful station... 

...I'm turning green!!!!


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

that is overhelming!


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## Richard Weatherby (Jan 3, 2008)

INCREDIBLY GOOD JOB!!! I love your techniques. Your choice of adhesives sounds good. I don't know where you live but wetting and drying with sun will eventually affect it, especially the wood. I had major issues with a wood building I brought inside for a month or so. It dried out and began to split open.


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## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

That is a really beautiful building. I am looking forward to the rest. 
Tommy








Rio Gracie


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

That is a great looking building. I saw a guy a couple years ago using large Rubbermaid tubs, upside down over his structures, ready to run trains, pull them off stack them on each other and run trains. Like Dick said in the above statement, wood has issues with cracking, you might look at using Precision Board for your wood applications, a real great product, paints good and stains good, and machines real good. 
Looking forward in seeing more of your structures in the future. 
Dennis


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## Beverstaart (Jun 19, 2008)

Thank you for posting this. Quite an inspiration! 

Henk


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

The roof is made from salvaged corrugated plastic political signs 
So those are finally used for a good purpose ;-) 

But seriously, that is indeed a great looking building and very interesting construction. 
Good idea using the wig for making the roof bracket; I'm gonna try that myself! 
Thanks for sharing! 

Paul


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Fantastic job Winn.

It appears that your structure skills are every bit as good as your locomotive skills. I also think your window construction techniques are unique and I will file them away for future reference. Some great ideas here. Thanks for showing us.

Doc


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks to all of you for the kind comments!! Dennis The tub idea is great, unfortunately most of my buildings will be too big to fit in any tubs that I have seen. What is Precision board and where would I get it? Since we don't get a lot of moisture here in NM and the wood i'm using is well dried I'm hoping that it will stand up OK.


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Winn 
Yes NM is dry but as you know they have a rainy season, occasional rains will probably be not a problem, a longer rainy season, covering the building will help prevent problems, covering the top to prevent the falling rain 
and the baking sun will prevent most problems. 
Precision Board can be found on the internet. Rainbow Ridge I think is the name sells smaller sizes, so you do not have to buy full sheets, Empire Builders also sells smaller sheets. 
http://www.rainbowridgekits.com/index.htm 
Good luck Dennis


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

MIghty impressive, Winn. And thanks for telling us about some of your unusual building technique(s). I'll file them away too!


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