Reworking the layout

[Terry Toenges]

I started on the base. 2 pieces of 1/8" bass wood glued together gave me the right height to butt the E-Z Track up to it. Then 1/2" wide by 3/16" high balsa around the perimeter to start. Next come the walls of the foundation.

[RAM]

An old way of making shake shingles was to cut strips from a brown paper bag. I don't know the size of shakes, but let say 2 feet long and eight inches wide, so you would cut strips 2 scale feet and then cut slits half way up about ever 8 scale inches.  then glue one strip down and move up and glue another strip, and keep doing this until the roof is covered.

[Terry Toenges]

I'm still undecided what I will do on the roof. I might just putty the crack and paint it.
I'm waiting on some Atlas track pieces that I ordered. There aren't any train stores down here. Hobby Lobby has a few pieces of black E-Z Track and a few Bachmann sets. That's the extent of train stuff down here. It's about a 70 mile ride to the big city and hobby/train shops.
I need about 12 1/2" of straight for the shed. I found a place that sells single pieces so I don't have to buy a whole pack. I tried prying off the track from some old E-Z Track and that was a disaster. The piece on the shed base now is short because I had to cut the ends off from screwing it up when I pried it off the E-Z base.
I also ordered some curves so I can build four bridges on the upper right of the layout. Two will be 15" radius pieces and two will be 18" radius. Kind of like the Campbell bridge only smaller.

[Len]

Plastruct has a 2 pack of unpainted 7" x 12" O scale shake shingle packs.
https://plastruct.com/shop/plain-and-patterned-sheet/91655-ps-130/

They're available on line from a number of sources.

Len

[Terry Toenges]

I had never heard of the paper bag idea. That's interesting. I saw Plastruct's stuff. That's a possibility.
Wild West Models has a variety of colors.
https://www.wildwestmodels.com/products/shake-shingles.html

[Terry Toenges]

I'm also thinking about corrogated roofing. I like the shingles but would they use wood shingles on an engine shed with a loco stack spitting hot embers?
https://www.wildwestmodels.com/products/corrugated-roofing.html

[bbmiroku]

Just remember that, even vented and sealed like leftovers, there is still air in that tub of clay, and it will harden if you don't use it...

Unless you vacuum-pack it...

Yeah, they would use wood shingles (cedar, if any).  That's what the smokestacks are on the door and back ends of the roof.  Under those smokestacks is something that looks like a range hood in a restaurant's kitchen (exhaust vent).  Besides, your walls are made of 'wood', aren't they?

[Terry Toenges]

The walls are wood but I wondered about shooting hot embers up to wood roof.

[Terry Toenges]

What type of adhesive would I use to glue the clay pieces to the turntable? They are all loose. I didn't think about the clay not sticking to the plastic.

[bbmiroku]

Standard Super Glue (plastic adhesive [Krazy glue]) ought to work.  If that fails, there's always double-sided tape. Tape bonus: If you ever decide to change your mind on exact placement of the turntable, or replacement with another, you can pull the clay chunks off.

Generally, the 'range hoods' would be large enough to completely cover any position the smokestack may end up in.  Also, notice the wood roof.

[Terry Toenges]

Hmm.... Perhaps an inverted Big Hauler stack under the roof.

[bbmiroku]

Get a few from a train show, if you can.  Try your hand at slowly heating and flattening them.

[Terry Toenges]

It wouldn't matter anyway because it wouldn't be visible. The shed will be toward the back of the layout. The platform across from the shed on the turntable will be blocking the view to see up inside the roof. A person would have to lay on his belly to try to see back there under the roof of the shed and it's doubtful it could even be seen like that. I'll probably just put a couple capped stack on the outside of the roof like I see on other roundhouses.

[Terry Toenges]

As I slowly make progress on my engine shed, I'm contemplating putting lights in it. I thought about a stationary decoder so I could control the lights with DCC. With a decoder, I could get the power from the track. I just saw Woodland Scenics' Just Plug Lighting System https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/JustPlugLightingSystem and I'm wondering if that might be a better way to go. That would mean running more wires. Any thoughts?

[Len]

The large gaps at the top of the walls were to let in daylight, so kerosense/coal oil lanterns wouldn't be needed. Unless you're going to add a lot of interior detail, it might not be worth the bother.

Len