Open-Ended Construction

The interior planking on the third permanent wall is done.  Here's a look inside, with the removable wall removed:

Tomorrow I plan to finish the siding on the outside, frame the doors, and then permanently attach the wall to the decking:

Round Peg In A Round Hole

In my previous post, I mentioned that I hadn't yet figured out how I was going to hold the removable walls in place.  I've solved that dilemma, thanks to a micro drill bit and some brass wire.  I've also changed my plans a bit, deciding to permanently attach the front wall, leaving only the end wall and the roof removable.

These Four Walls

No, not the song.  I'm talking about the four walls of my produce warehouse.  My mission for the weekend was to get the two removable walls framed up - mission accomplished.  I haven't quite figure out how to hold them in place yet.  I'm thinking some sort of pin or peg that will go into holes drilled into the floor.  Whatever I come up with, it needs to be easy to remove the walls, but they also need to stay firmly in place when the building is assembled.

Finally Finished Fascia

Took a break from the scratchbuilding today, and cleaned up the accumulated clutter, then sanded and painted the fascia.  Two coats, same color as the walls in the room, and it turned out fantastic.  It really looks like it belongs in the room, and upon entering the room, your eye is immediately drawn to the layout backdrop.  Exactly the effect that I wanted.

Turned The Corner

First end wall is full constructed, the long back wall is now framed and ready for interior and exterior finishing and windows.

These are the only two walls that will be permanently attached to the base - the other end wall and the front, along with the roof, will be removable.  I plan to fully detail the interior, after I've determined what belongs in a northern Minnesota produce warehouse in 1920.  I know that the Hill City Railroad moved a variety of produce from local farms:

"Besides the hauling of pails and timber, the Hill City Railroad also did a fair amount of traffic in farm products. "Reports from the Hill City Railway Company, show that 28 carloads of potatoes, with a minimum of 600 bushels to the car were shipped over the railroad and transferred at the Swan River junction in the month of October. This means that during that month, local farmers received at least $17,000, figuring the potatoes at an average of $1.00 per bushel, which is a low estimate of the average, for their potato crop, with many potatoes not yet shipped out. This is the greatest number of cars of potatoes ever shipped out on this line in a single month. The largest number of cars were shipped out of the Mississippi junction vicinity, Hill City contributing the next greatest....A number of cars of carrots, cabbages, and bagas [rutabagas] also were shipped and brought considerable money to this section." (Hill City News ~ Dec. 19, 1925)"

Up The Wall

The floor and dock are done, aside from weathering.  I started on the walls, and almost finished one today.  Wow, is this tedious work!!  I love the results, but this clapboard siding is driving me nuts, literally up the wall.

Sticks and stones and dog vomit

The warping issue has turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  I am MUCH happier with the results of the "do over" of the produce warehouse.  Today, in spite of dealing with a sick dog (thank goodness for carpet shampooers!!!), I finished all of the sub-structure, and starting putting down the deck planking.  Again, very tedious and time-consuming, but I'm thoroughly enjoying the project so far.  As you can see in these photos, I also threw some ground cover underneath, so that I won't have to do that after the structure is done.

Warp factor

Apparently I have some learning to do.  Woke up this morning to discover that the floor that I built yesterday for my produce warehouse had warped.  The two outside rows of "legs" were a full 1/4" off the ground.  I'm not sure what caused this, since nothing was painted.  This was nothing more than balsa strips glued to a piece of matte board with CA.  I contemplated ways to fix it, but decided not to waste the time - I started over.

This time, I'm not using the matte board.  I'm building this one the way it would be done in real life, with intersecting cross-beams sitting on the stone piers.  Decking boards (scale 1"x10") will be placed across the cross-beams.

Here's the progress so far, the stone piers attached to the base, and the bottom row of cross-members installed. The second row of cross-members will be placed on top of these, perpendicular to the bottom row.