Scratch Building

'K.C. Jones'

The first topic we would like to consider is the construction of a building, in this case a simple farm house, pictured in G. R. magazine, (see drawing on plan page) The problem will be to convert this simple picture into scale drawings and then to construct a rough structure from these drawings. In scratch building the structure must be sized relative to the layouts rolling stock and other structures, this of course is referred to as 'scale'.

'G' garden railroading involves a number of scales but for purposes of these articles we will assume a fairly common (1:20.3) which translates to approximately one-half inch to the foot, (sorry we don't speak metric.) In order to simplify the drawings we use quarter-inch squared paper (available at Staples) so lets start with sketches (views) of all four sides, and then we can work out a floor plan and start to add scaled dimensions, in order to work out sizes it is easier if we Establish a reference point - windows and doors are usually a specific size; doors 6'6 "X 32", windows in this house likely about 30"x40" in half inch scale this becomes -doors 3" X l-3/8", and windows l-l/4" X 2", doors 72'x 32', and windows 48" x 30" poetic license. Once you have established the windows and doors the full dimensions become a multiple of these - by way of example the front of the house would be about 12' wide or about five - window widths (each window being about 2-1/2' wide x 5 = approx. 12'. Establishing the vertical height can be done by considering the building's age (older buildings had high ceilings often 9' to 12' high) others about 8' or 9' floor to ceiling therefore two stories = 2 x 8' = 16'. Now that we have established some base measurements we can move on to a floor plan, as shown below. The main building portion being 15' x 12' (adjust the overall size to suit your needs and the available space on your layout). Sizes for porches and steps can be established from existing porches you know.

We can now begin to draw out the walls and roof sections on our base material, (I use door skins which I am able to purchase at Copp’s Lumber), other suggestions might be; plastics, model hard board, etc. The window and door openings should be cut out at this stage and certainly before assembly. Interior lighting and detail should also be considered at this point – if interior detail is not desired a simple partition through the middle will often be sufficient to

prevent seeing through the building window to window. Wiring can be installed easily at this

point to allow for future sound and/or lighting . The wires can extend through the base for later access.

The base can be cut from scrap ½ inch plywood to allow the walls to butt along each side during assembly. Assemble the main walls to the base and add blocks up the inside corners and along the roof lines. Outdoor wood glue and small nails seem to work fine as fasteners. Complete all walls and roof sections in this way ( you may want to consider a removable roof atthis time), remember to leave some overlap on the roof edges to represent the soffits. Thisshould complete the main ‘rough’ walls. All that is left for now is to add the two enclosed protruding areas these are cut and assembled as ‘lean to’s’ in the appropriate locations. Add the porch roofs and you should have created a rough replica of the farmhouse pictured on the following page.

The finishing including ; doors and windows , exterior walls and roof covering we will discuss in future articles. Enjoy the beginning basics of scratch building a house from here on it gets easier and more rewarding.