Sn3 RGS First District: Construction Update #30 - Finishing up the structures for Placerville & the Ridgway Depot

Placerville Cafe-Bar & Gas Station

June 2, 2024

I finally got around to adding a few trees to the hillside behind the cafe-bar and the gas station which allowed me to set these two structures in place. I still need the sign over the entry to the cafe-bar, a few more details, vehicles and figures. In the not to distant future, I need to get out the static grass applicator and add a few shrubs.

Placerville Depot Restrooms

June 2, 2024

The Placerville Depot restrooms is the last of 4 McCarville Studios structure kits I bought to finish off the Placerville scene. The restrooms were painted to match the depot and the kit provided shingles were replaced with peel & stick versions that were a better match to ones already on my Placerville depot.

Here are the components laid out on the desk ready for assembly.

After the parts were painted, I realized that the privacy fencing scaled out to be about 4 scale inches thick; much thicker than I felt it should be. Since the restrooms are right up front on the layout, I decided to replace the kit supplied fencing using scale 4 x 4's for the posts, 2 x 4's for the rails and 1 x 10's for the fence boards. I think 1 x 8's would have looked better for the fence boards but I didn't have any on hand. The privacy fencing was shortened on one side and a railing was added per the photograph and plans on page 273 of the RGS Story, Vol I. The walls were reinforced to prevent warping and roof braces were added to make the roof removable.

After the walls were attached to the base, I discouvered the alignment tabs on the walls extended out beyond the surface of the adjoining wall making it impossible to get the corner trim to lay flat. Had I realized this before the walls were glued together it would have been an easy fix. Fixing the problem after the walls were glued together involved cutting, sanding and repainting. The trim material was also replaced with something a bit wider to achieve a good corner joint and cover the alignment tabs.

The restrooms still needs some weathering. Since the roof is still removable, the fence bracing has not yet been installed.

I found it interesting that the plans show and the photos appear to show that both doors were on the same end of the building. It seems to me that it would have been more logical to separate the restrooms (men & women) by placing the doors on opposite ends with a separating wall built across the width of the building.

The restrooms temporarily set in place next to the depot. With a few minor changes, the kit builds into nice little addition to the depot scene.

Placerville Structure Recap

The Placerville structures along Front Street from north to south. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Gas Station & Cafe Bar - Laser cut wood kits from McCarville Studios

Harvey's Hardware & Miner's Supply - Laser cut wood kits from Wild West Models. Harvey's Hardware built by Bruce Hanley.

Residence on Front Street - Scratch built, wood over styrene core. Grandt Line doors and windows.

Residence on Front Street - Scratch built wood over styrene. Grandt Line doors and windows.

General Store - Monster Modelworks

Post Office - Scratch built wood over styrene core with modified Grandt Line doors and windows

Residence on Front Street - Scratch built wood over styrene core. Grandt Line doors and windows/

Garage - Scratch built using left over wall sections from general store kit from Monster Model Works. Modified doors and windows from Grandt Line.

Hotel - Bar Mills Idaho Hotel kit

The Placerville structures along the tracks from south to north. Click on the pictures to enlarge

Coal Bins & Warehouse - Banta Model Works, built by my 11 year old grandson Adam.

RGS Warehouse - Scratch built out of styrene

Placerville Depot - Ragg's... To Riches kit

Depot Restrooms - McCarville Studios kit

Flour, Grain & Ore Warehouse - Scratch built out of styrene

Scale & Scale House - Scratch built wood over styrene core.

Ridgway Depot

June 7, 2024

Yep.... The depot is coming along... slowly. Since the wainscoting had a tendency to warp, I had to use clamps to hold it in place while the glue set. And, since I only have four clamps that would work, the wainscoting took about a week to install. The rib rail, that separates the wainscoting from the clapboard siding, only took a couple of hours to install.

The clapboard siding had to be handled with care. Several pieces were split right out of the sealed parts bag and had to be repaired. The clapboard siding was taped to the top of the kit box and painted depot buff. The wainscoting and rib rail, that were already glued to the inner walls, were painted brown. Floquil paints were used.

Here, the first couple of clapboard wall sections have been glued in place. Again progress is slow due to my limited number of clamps. Originally I was a little concerned about how well the wall sections would line up (window and door openings, corners, etc.). So far, everything has lined up perfectly.

While the glue is drying on the clapboard walls sections, shingles are being applied to the upper wall sections. Due to the size of the depot and the cost of replacing the kit supplied shingles with peel & stick versions, I decided to go with the laser cut versions provided with the kit. The kit instructions recommend using 3M Super 77 spray adhesive for attaching the shingles. I have never had much success using this method; it's difficult to control where the spray glue goes and I find it very unforgiving. Instead, double sided tape is used. The tape is available from Wild West Models https://www.wildwestmodels.com/products/details-tools.html I highly recommend it. In addition Wild West Models has a excellent line of laser cut kits and accessories in multiple scales.

The Signs of Progress

I like to keep my work room neat! For years this was a home office. I took it over about 15 years ago when it was no longer needed for that purpose. Pam, my tolerant bride of almost 42 years, rarely steps foot in this room. She prefers to close the door and ignore the mess.