# ICING PLATFORM



## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

The last time Garden Textures had a booth at the ECLSTS (3 years ago I think) I purchased one of their Icing Platform kits. A few months ago I finally decided to build it.

This kit creates a very large structure, approx. 36 in. x 18 in. When I designed my new layout, I made sure there was a space for it. Since I collect reefers, I figured I must have a source of block ice. This building fills that need.

The instructions and plans are great. The plans are full scale and allow you to build many of the substructures directly on the sheets, of which there are three. Most of the major wood components are pre-cut to the required dimensions. All of the wood pieces are either redwood or cedar. There is also a more than sufficient number of flat stock pieces for the building siding and decking that need to be cut to fit.

The directions allow for variations in some aspects of the construction. One major variation I decided on was to use metal roofing (Plastruct styrene material) instead of the many hundreds of shingles provided in the kit. I’ve done one shingled roof before and that was enough. Anybody need any shingles?

The other variation was to add a smoke stack. I figured this was needed for the imaginary steam engine used to power the hoist at the rear and to power the ice making machine that was added later to ensure that the business didn’t have to rely solely on ice from a nearby lake. I also added a pulley and tongs above the upper rear doorway. This was used to hoist blocks of ice delivered by wagon/truck from a local lake during the winter months.

The other minor change I made was to apply aluminum tape to the trough were the blocks of ice were slid into position before loading into cars. I figured they must have covered these troughs with sheet metal to protect the underlying wood and allow the ice blocks to slide more easily.

The first steps in the construction were to build the 4 side walls and framing for the lower and upper loading docks. I used Titebond III to glue all wooden parts and reinforced all joints using a pin nailer. Below are a few photos of the structure during construction. 






















































After I completed assembling the structure I painted the walls with several washes of Folkart acrylic paints to achieve a weathered effect. I also washed the platform and support beams with their “barnwood” acrylic. 

The individual Plastruct styrene sheets used for the roofing were cut to fit and painted prior to gluing to the roof. I used Welder glue to attach the roof panels. I’ve used it many times before because it doesn’t attack the styrene and is waterproof.

I first sprayed the roof pieces with Krylon rusty brown primer. I then painted each panel with combinations of Folkart yellow ochre, light red oxide, burnt sienna, and burnt umber. This was done to hopefully achieve a highly weathered/rusted effect.

Here is photo of the painted and almost completed icing station showing the metal foil laid over the trough.












This photo shows the pulley assembly on the rear of the building. The parts are from Ozark Miniatures.










The following are photos of the completed model at its location on my layout. Enjoy.











































As many others have stated, Garden Textures kits a well designed, the instructions are clear and the supplied components are of a high quality. I highly recommend them.

Doc


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## dieseldude (Apr 21, 2009)

Doc- Fantastic job on the building. Great looking weathered (rusty) roof. Thanks for posting the pictures. 


-Kevin.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Wow! That's beautiful. Great painting too. 
John


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

What a great structure! The next step is to automate one of the figures to push the ice into the refer. Watch for my article in Garden Railways on how I did it.


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Super nice job on the icing platform









Looks great with your USA reefers.

I recently built an HO model of an icing platform. Interesting buildings that add some variety to a layout.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Very, very nice Doc! Great structure


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

What a great and beautiful job you did on the Ice House Doc. 

JJ


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

I want to thank all of you for your kind comments. They're much appreciated.

Todd, You ice block mechanism looks interesting. I'm looking forward to reading about it.

Doc


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## railcandy (Dec 19, 2010)

I really enjoyed all the photos.. Nice job there ! 

Perry


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