Korber round house build

Stu,

I'll be watching your post! 

Glad to see a 'build thread' on this. 

How difficult is making the floor? I have the templates and I'm an experienced modeler. Looking for the easiest way from someone who has done this a few times...

Thanks!

Here are today's progress pictures,  all of the cross beams are in place and most of the diagonal braces.  this is made in 2 halves which are bolted together at the double center beams.  Build time 21.5 hours.

I have never put a floor in a round house but it shouldn't be to hard but to long to describe here.   feel free to give me a call during a week day.  Phone number on my Model Building Services web site.  

Impressive build!

As a general question, are these kits designed such that you can "adjust" the number of degrees from stall to stall for lengthening the amount of track between the doors of the roundhouse to the turntable pit?   

I'd like to assemble one that provides at least 125-135 scaled feet (about 2.6 to 2.8 feet).  

Allegheny posted:

As a general question, are these kits designed such that you can "adjust" the number of degrees from stall to stall for lengthening the amount of track between the doors of the roundhouse to the turntable pit?   

I'd like to assemble one that provides at least 125-135 scaled feet (about 2.6 to 2.8 feet).  

The rough dimensions are 32" from the front of the round house to the center of the turntable.   if you use a 34"turntable you will only have about 15" from the front to the pit.   To  be able to set the round house further back from the pit you would have to cut down the back walls.    I am not sure how much shorter they would have to be to get the distance you want.  You would have to do the math to figure out the width of the back wall sections.  If you look at the back walls you would have to cut some of the brick either from each side or cut out the brick from between some of the windows then glue the walls back together.    You can contact me by my email listed here so we can get phone numbers and set up a time to do some of the figuring by phone.

Stu

Allegheny posted:

As a general question, are these kits designed such that you can "adjust" the number of degrees from stall to stall for lengthening the amount of track between the doors of the roundhouse to the turntable pit?   

I'd like to assemble one that provides at least 125-135 scaled feet (about 2.6 to 2.8 feet).  

i just thought that the back walls of the big boy extension are narrower then the normal back walls of the round house and may work  instead of the normal back wall or with less cutting.

Allegheny posted:

As a general question, are these kits designed such that you can "adjust" the number of degrees from stall to stall for lengthening the amount of track between the doors of the roundhouse to the turntable pit?   

I'd like to assemble one that provides at least 125-135 scaled feet (about 2.6 to 2.8 feet).  

Once you figure out the back wall you will then have to cut down the front and back clear story windows for the raised center section.  I would NOT recommend doing any of this cutting on a full size table saw.   I use the micro-mark small table saw.

typicall when customers want to use different lengths they use flextrack to adjust the track to both the turntable and roundhouse.

I am currently reviewing the instruction before I begin construction.    the instructions suggest using spray paint,   will the spray paint eat away of the plastic walls ??

The walls are a cast resin so the paint shouldn't affect the walls.   The walls have the color in the resin so on this piece I did not paint the walls.  If you are going to paint the walls you should  NOT glue to a painted surface.  the glue will stick to the paint but the paint will pull off the wall.    I think the casting molds are covered with a release agent which will some times cause the paint to not stick to the walls.  Many modelers will clean all of the parts before assembling.    I also sand all of the back sides of the walls so they are not shiny and the glue has a surface to stick to.    I used Locktite brand CA quick glue to bond the walls together.

Thanks.    At this point I was just reviewing the instructions and painting both sides was a suggestion by korber.   

Here are the final pictures of the round house.   I would like to commend Rich at Korber Models for all of the great improvements he has made to this kit.  Rich has improved this kit by using a casting resin that does not smell when sanded or machined.  The color is throughout the casting material and I did not have to paint the walls, the laser cut windows and clear window pains look great and are easy to install, The wood is all machined  to size,  the laser cut doors look great.

I have added additional bracing and lights, all wood is nailed together with glue and 3/8" 23 gauge pins.

This building is made in two parts which are bolted together in the middle.  All roof sections were glued into larger pieces with added light blocking wood at the front and back.

Korber Models are fun to work on, have 3 on my bench @ different phases of construction.

Gary - Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway

Stu, thanks for your postings as they help with giving some guidance on how to best approach the model.  Also thanks for offering to assist with the calculations for adjusting the stall to stall degrees that would extend the model further away from the turn table pit. 

I have a unopened box for the 304 roundhouse.  How can you discern if the kit you own is a new one or an older model?  When was the model updated and released? 

I am guessing this was 3 kits, the three stall, the one stall and the two big boy add on.

Allegheny posted:

Stu, thanks for your postings as they help with giving some guidance on how to best approach the model.  Also thanks for offering to assist with the calculations for adjusting the stall to stall degrees that would extend the model further away from the turn table pit. 

I have a unopened box for the 304 roundhouse.  How can you discern if the kit you own is a new one or an older model?  When was the model updated and released? 

The new kits have an address of 100 Castleberry court #178. Milford, OH..     The original korber usually or always had a red box and a picture on the top.   I am not sure if the current owner Rich sold any with the plastic doors or vacuum formed windows.   You would have to contact him.  He is a forum sponsor.     If you open the box of an original korber model you will smell a heavy plastic smell.   If not when you sand the back you will smell it.   These were good models for the time and can still be built the same.   I only stopped building them because i am sensitive to the smell of the casting resin used.

trainroomgary posted:

Korber Models are fun to work on, have 3 on my bench @ different phases of construction.

Gary - Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway

The two boxes on the right of the three look like original Korber models.    

Tony H posted:

I am guessing this was 3 kits, the three stall, the one stall and the two big boy add on.

 

The kits I used are:

one    304 which is a 3 stall and side walls

three 304A which have one front, back, wood for the posts and beams, roof.

Two   304B   big boy extension, which have side walls,  window back Roof, and replacement for a normal stall back.   which is   added to a stall to add about 5 1/2" length.   This works great if you only add one stall bigboy  extension.  

If you do more then one Big boy extension replace the shorter 304B back with the origional kit back.  You will also end up with unused 304b back, and side walls.   These leftover parts would make a great addition to the side of the round house or building flats.

Nicely done. The comments about the model and the assembly are very helpful.

Any update?

Looks real good. Excellent work. Mine says Hello!

(My kit was vintage from many years ago)

Donald

Great build Stu!

Donald....I have always enjoyed seeing pictures of your layout!

Alan

I had done two of the 304 house. This is modular and makes some of the Fort Pitt Highrailer train meets.   House and turntable done 4' X 8'.  The "Y" module is 6ft wide and adds 5' length.  Total length pictured is 13'  

The 304 house has (3) stalls.  As pictured (4) stalls, one additional stall, and the add on extension piece for locomotives longer than 30".   Also pictures is the upgrade to a luan roof and gutters/down spouts.  These details are part of Rich's build instructions.

Very nice attention to detail!

Stu

just saw this with the final pictures, excellent job!

Rich883 posted:

Stu

just saw this with the final pictures, excellent job!

Rich,    Thanks for the compliment but the only pictures of my build are the first set.   I think your excellent job comment should go to 3 rail 2 and Mike Ct.   and I agree with you.

Stu,

You did a very neat job on the roundhouse.

Alan Graziano

That's a terrific project, but now I know why I don't have a roundhouse on my layout. Those things are huge! I love the timber interior, just begs for lots of little details.