International Hobby 2 stall Engine House Question

Jim,  I am not sure about the roof supports, I haven't assembled one of those kits for fifteen years.  May I suggest as you assemble each side you use something to brace them? They are flimsy. You might consider placing 1/2 x 1/2 lengths of wood on the inside of slopes of the end walls.  That will give the glue a greater surface to adhere to.   Also, before you put the walls together decide what color you want the inside walls.  It is a good size building with large doors and windows allowing the insides to be seen.  A light color or two colors(dark green on the lower 10 feet, light green above that?) may add interest to the engine house.  Perhaps members of this forum could share photos of their completed buildings.   John in Lansing, ILL

Yes, center support is for the 4 roof pieces. The other ends are supported by the walls.

Only one center roof truss on mine too. I haven't permanently attached the roof yet as I want to add four more, two equally spaced on each side of the center. My error was installing the center truss without tracing its outline so the others could more easily be fabricated. Still working on the thoughts of making the roof removable.

Jim,

This kit came with one center truss I assumed there would be three. Also the end and side wall inside 90 degree corner joints are not very rigid. What I did was to use the molded center truss as a template and make to additional two additional trusses using Plastruct 91105, .060inch  thick styrene sheet, Plastruct BFS-5, 5/32 inch styrene I-Beams and 3/32 inch by 1/4 inch styrene rectangular strip to make these trusses. The rectangular strip was used as the vertical ends of these trusses, this strip and the kit wall form a T-joint when glued together, also not knowing the type of plastic used in this kit , I used Platruct plastic weld solvent this cement is recommended for bonding dissimilar plastics.The other issue is to rigidity of the  inside corners or the end and side wall, as I was building this kit I cemented Plastruct 90506 1/4 inch right angles to the inside edge of the 90 degree wall joint. My e-mail address is in my personal information, if you contact me via e-mail I can scan the shape of these styrene trusses to you. The important issue is the span of these new trusses and the pitch of the I-Beams for roof attachment.  The kit molded truss is applied at the mid length of the side walls, this leaves the portion of the wall from this truss to either end wall unsupported, apply this new truss midway between the end wall and the kit truss, both sides of the kit truss, what you are doing is is to have all trusses at quarter point connections.    

DKDKRD and Jim: Thank you for the offers! I would like to get a scan of that truss. My email is oldtown24@charter.net 

Neil

Jim, you are not missing a piece. That’s how it comes. I had to laugh when I read this since I built this kit as a kid and the first thing I thought back then was I got shorted a truss too! Nope just a bad product. Without creating additional roof support the darn thing will collapse. 

Here are some pix of mine, which has been a work in progress for around 20 years now.

This pic shows internal bracing and diagonal supports to give the thing some rigidity and strength. I build it so it can be disassembled in 4 major wall pieces, you can see the fastening screws on the corners of the end wall.

This pic shows the completed unit. I built the roof to be removeable also. The center piece is one unit with 2 additional truss assemblies. They are made of heavy cardboard patterned from the one plastic truss, and painted flat black to kind of blend in. Both larger roof side panels are removeable just by lifting them off. They have short lengths of sprue glued underneath each lower corner, to catch the walls so they don't slide off. I also "glazed" the upper clerestory windows by adding thin sheet clear plastic. This looks better than just left open to me.

Here is a later pic where I have added brick mortar fill, which really adds to it I think. Also I have added light fixtures overhead of the main doors. You can't see it but I also added thin (2 mm ?) light gray sheet foam to the insides of the walls, so it looks a little more realistic looking through the windows and doors. I am pretty happy with it, and it can still be disassembled and taken to train shows if needed. The grandchildren like the stack "smoke". 

Rod

Assembled one in the 1980's for my layout, and roof support relying on the single truss and walls never was an issue. 

What, me worry?