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Model Railroad Building Plans for N, HO, OO, O, and Garden scale model railroad structures.
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How to Make Inexpensive Corrugated Metal Roofing & Siding:
Whether you're building from cardstock or scaled lumber this technique will help to add a
little more realism to the overall appearance of your models.
HO Scale Equipment Shed
The Key word here is 'inexpensive'. The outcome is not necessarily to exact scale, but after the
initial cost of the crimper, the rest is cheap!
If you plan on doing a lot of metal siding for barns, industrial buildings, scrap-yard fences, etc., this might be the way to go.
The project on the left is a typical 'pole construction' equipment shed. These buildings are often completely finished in galvanized metal, so it makes a good example for this procedure.
To Download a copy of this Free plan in N, HO, OO, or O Scale please visit our Catalog page (Industrial)
*Note: This is a simple free template and not an example of our more comprehensive plan packages.
- This is a Fiskars ® Paper Crimper found in the
scrap-booking section of a Michael's store. With a 40% off
coupon it cost about $10, and handles foil paper quite well. The
foil paper panels will be fragile, but will produce nice results
for very little cost.
- This is the building material. As you can imagine, the cost
of the raw material will be insignificant.
- For more rigidity, on smaller projects, you can use the
peel-off tops of coffee cans.
Since this is a pole-construction building I'm using 1/8"
dowel rod for the vertical columns. There will be three
rows of wood columns, so some type of jig should be used to cut
each group of columns the same length. The 1/8" hardwood dowel
pushes the limit of the chopper, but razor blades are cheap.
- To begin assembly I placed the HO scale shed template onto a
scrap piece of foam board.
- Ordinary sewing pins make a handy re-usable jig for holding
small and irregular shaped parts while gluing.
- Placing pins right on the lines will help to align the
components. Place a few pins on the opposite sides to hold
things securely.
- At this stage you're only needing to tack the pieces
together. Remove assembly from the jig to finish gluing.
* To prevent gluing to the template place a sheet of wax paper
over top of the template.
Use a chopper or cutting jig to make diagonal braces for each of the columns.
- Pole-construction buildings are typically strapped with 2 x
6 running perpendicular to the pole columns. Strips of
.017" to .020" veneer will scale to 1 1/2", the actual thickness
of a 2" x 6". This wood strip cutter is available from Micro-Mark.
- An alternative method of cutting uniform strips is to use the procedure shown in
our Corner-board tutorial.
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Up to 15% off!
- Careful placement of the pins will hold the assembly in a
vertical position.
- You can use diagonal braces to help hold things in place.
- One of the financial benefits of a pole structure is that
you could get by without having to use sheathing plywood as in a
conventional building. The building got it's rigidity from the
corrugated metal panels.
- Place the veneer strips, (strapping) along the roof joists
as well. Strapping was typically placed on 24" centers, or to
save money, on 32" centers.
- The finished panels will be fragile so it's best to cut them
to the correct height before running them through the crimping
tool.
- Make sure that the foil sheets are fed in to the crimper at
precisely 90° so the finished pattern
will be perpendicular to the edges. You can re-do a piece if it
doesn't turn out right the first time.
- Here are the finished pieces. Trim with scissors or a razor
blade.
- Scissors will flatten the corrugations, but you ran
carefully run the piece through the crimper again to correct it.
- Use craft glue along the veneer 'strapping' to hold the foil
panels in place. Lightly run your fingers along the surface of
each panel to level things off.
Get this scale plan FREE in N, HO, OO, or O
scale.
Visit our News Page for monthly discounts on select plan packages.
Up to 15% off!
A complete HO scale Structure for $1.19 in materials!
The most expensive part of this building was the dowel. If I hadn't specifically wanted a pole-type building to replicate the original one I could have used basswood or balsa and built the entire structure for 30 cents!
The initial cost of the crimping tool can be offset after your first scale model project, so if you plan on doing several sheet metal roofs or walls, it might be worth it.
To Download a copy of this Free plan in N, HO, OO, or O Scale please visit our Catalog page (Industrial)
of N Scale and HO Scale plans, templates, and Cardstock patterns,
then click to order the printable PDF files so you can get started on your next project.
Information provided in these tutorials is for
informational purposes only. Owners of this website offer no
guarantees and assume no responsibility or liability of any type
with respect to the content of these tutorials and will not be
held liable for any damages or injuries caused by using or
misusing the information on this site, and anyone using these
methods does so at his/her own risk. By viewing these articles
you agree that you will not hold, or seek to hold, Owners of
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undertaken without a complete understanding and knowledge of the
safe and proper use of all related tools and processes.
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