CM O Scale Maintenance Shed – The Deep River Railroad

Clever Models

This is one of Clever Models paper/cardstock kits. What you get is a PDF. You can print as many copies as needed. Since it is a print you can modify as needed. The price .. current as of 3/9/2019 is $6.95 – you download online. I can’t think of a better/cheaper way to create model structures.

Example Page

This is one of the pages – the front and left side, chimney, doors, windows and signs. Me .. I prefer to use Tichy windows and doors and stripwood for trim. That is the point IMO .. use cardstock kits as a starting point. How far you take it is simply up to you.

Foamcore & Stuff

My preferred method in building cardstock kits is to create a frame/shell from foam core to which I glue the printed sides. In this instance I used some with a vanilla surface – I like it quite a lot. A single edge razor blade, XActo knife, straight edge etc. The tab and notch construction is simple .. as deep as the foam core thickness.

In this photo you can see how the foam core simply ‘snaps’ together. The use of some white glue makes this VERY strong .. and quick. The entire procedure probably only took 1/2 hour to get to this point.

Assembling

Here we can see quite a lot going on. With the foam core nicely glued up I glued the printed sides on. I cut the openings for the door and windows in the cardstock early on, then held in place and traced the openings on the foam core and cut that out. The cut out door was recessed and glued in place, the cardstock glued to the cardstock. You can see one of the drawbacks to using foam core – the thickness. This usually causes no problem unless you have open doors etc. In that case .. I shrug and say .. so use another material/process. The walls IMO look pretty good as they are. Up top the eight white marks are for the ends of the rafters stick through.

Layering

Layering cardstock can raise printed models to the next level. I print off additional sides. I then cut the boards into a section two boards tall. I can then overlap each strip of two boards over the one below by one board. This kicks the bottom of the board out about the same thickness as in ‘real life’ because of the cardstock thickness.

Note that I left space for stripwood trim at the corners and around the window openings for Tichy windows.

Rafters and Roof and Stuff

I used my XActo to open the walls up for stripwood rafters. The stripwood trim is in place and the kit roof is glued up.

Fini

The door – well – it’s a mix of stripwood trim, doors printed from the kit, hinges from Vector Cut and the transom window is made up from a couple of Tichy windows. Tichy window visible on side as is the ‘Keep Out’ sign glued to cardstock. The tar paper roof is also from the kit .. torn a bit here and there to show the plank roofing.