Looks like progress on my
Middletown tower project is on about a once-per-month schedule - not quite as "quick & dirty" as I expected. But now that "Mockup Structures" has floated to the top of my to-do list for my next operating session, this project is back on the front burner.
Click here for the previous installment on this project - and continue reading for the progress that I made tonight.
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After cutting the walls down to closer-to-prototype height, and removing the wall sections that had unneeded doors & windows (see this post), it was time to "backfill" with reconstructed walls of clapboard styrene. |
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I got a total length of the clapboard needed by setting the walls side-by-side and then used a square and ruler to score and snap the pieces. |
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Cuttin' up |
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While the score & snap method is certainly fast, and using a right angle ensures the wall is square in one plane, the cut doesn't always result in a square edge. A NWSL True Sander (1st time using this Christmas present!) squares the cuts up nicely. |
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The clapboard sheet styrene is thinner than the thickness of the original walls, and I wanted to brace new to old, so I decided to thicken the clapboard walls with some strip styrene. To determine how thick those strips should be, I needed to measure the thickness of the original walls, including trim. While doing this, I also measured the width of the trim so I could match it on the new walls. |
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I kept track of all the measurements on a Post-It. Clapboard thickness is .035" and I'm using a scale 1x6 (.011x.066) for trim. Adding the new trim (.011) to the new clapboard (.035) results in a thickness of .046". The thickness of the original wall, including the thickness of its trim, is .069". So the thickness of the styrene strip backers need to be .023" (.069-.046). |
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I used scale 2x8s for the backers/braces. At .022" thick, that's close enough to .023" for me. Using Tenax 7r liquid cement with a microbrush made this step go quickly. The braces that will strengthen the joint between the old and new walls will be glued perpendicularly to these backer/braces. |
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Final step for the evening was to go ahead and glue two of the original walls together using a Right Clamp. While this step seems a bit out of sequence, I think having at least one corner done will help me determine where/how the new clapboard/trim corners should go together. |
Since I wanted this joint to set up fully, I decided to leave it overnight - and call it a night. I hope you're enjoying this blow-by-blow account. I'm not sure whether this project would be considered kitbashing or scratchbuilding. I "re-kitted" a tower, essentially making it scrap, and have then been building it back up using those "scrapped" parts and some new styrene. Hmmm.... maybe I'll just call this process "scrapbox building" or - better yet - "scrapbuilding." :^)
Roman and Pieter are coming over for a work session tomorrow, so I hope to have some more layout progress to post in a day or two - so stay tuned!
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