Wolf Creek/Speedweigand Garage/Service Station

[DRW-FJ40]

Thanks guys. Well... I've officially broken ground. It took me a while but I've generated an 11 sheet plan set for building this.

Step 1 is to layout all the pieces on two 4'x8' sheets of plywood. One 1/4" & 1 1/2". I used AC Birch. I had the hardware store cut it into 2'x4' pieces & have the plans laid out in such a way that the pieces fit this way.



Step 2, Cut 'em out. I quickly realized that even with cutting the big sheets down, my microlux table saw wasn't ideal for this task. The thickness it could handle but the table just isn't big enough.... so....

Improvised a rip fence with C clamps & used my circular saw & then cleaned it up on the mini table saw.

[DRW-FJ40]

I couldn't help mocking up the first few pieces I got cut:

[DRW-FJ40]

Had a good day of solid work on this. Got all my wood cut. That to longer than I thought & things should move along better now.
I buggered up exterior walls when I cut the windows out. I plan to do a block facad so not a big deal but here is how my tecnique evolved to avoid this:

Using a 3/4" bit, I offset window lines 3/8" & drill la small hole:



Then use the 3/4" bit & just go down far enough to go the first layer or two of ply.



Flip it over & drill from the other side via the intial pilot holes and wallah! Nice clean holes, everyone appreciates a nice clean hole.



Then hack 'em out with a jig saw.



I clean the edges up a bit but with the prefab windows, it covers up the rough edge.

[DRW-FJ40]

Next challenge, I don't own a 3' wide clamp. So some improv was neccessary:



The way I designed this, it's really key to get the first few pieces square & then everything else shoulf fit fine.

I learned this simple and seemingly obvious trick when I built the bamboo bridge. a simple dowel rod inserted within the joint adds a lot of strength.



But, even with the dowels, I started getting concerned about strenght. I have to carry this out in the yard & I'm not making it to withstand rain.
so... I went to using epoxy & 1/2" square around the inside edge of the store. I then plan to put a raised floor in so this should one, add a lot of strenght, two, there will be an indoor entryway & then a step up to the floor so I don't have to adjust any door locations & three, I think it will look sort of cool.



This is where I finished last night, Two main support walls, which form a T, glued together & the floor on either side of the "T" epoxyed in. These four pieces define the basic squareness of the building.

[DRW-FJ40]

I did base this idea on a real gas station. I took some creative liberty but the idea came from Dunkle's Gulf Station in Bedford, PA. Since a lot of RC Trucks have an exagerated lift, I wanted a garage that was tall enough to fit trucks with lifts & racks on top but I wanted it to look realistic too. So I found this place on Google, pretty cool art deco building from the 1920's very interesting architecture for a gas station.



Went to the inlaws for Easter weekend. My mission: to find a 70's era Benton gas pump.

Found this one. Got pics & took measurements. For some reason, I could not find much on the interweb about pump dimensions.

[DRW-FJ40]

So... once I got the two support walls that form a "T" & the store floor in, the basic squareness of the structure is defined & things move faster.
Next is to build the two bays. I found these old river cam straps really helpfull. I use saran wrap anywhere that epoxy might come in contact with something I don't want attached to my garage... like the basement floor.

[DRW-FJ40]

Bay 2 walls in/poser shot:



Now working on the raised floor in the store area & ran out of epoxy so I stopped here for the night (actually it was 2:38 am, I'm tired)







I'll get this glued in tonight & start working on adding some filler to the window cut outs I botched & I'm going to put in a hardwood floor in the store & get some of the inside work done before I put the store front walls on.

[DRW-FJ40]

Here is the floor epoxyed in & primed. This thing is sturdy now. Start cutting & sanding wood strips for the floor (what fun)



Detail on the raised floor.



Started on the pumps which will be from styrene, I'm going with the Wayne 505 double pumper:



And... I said I was going to do the exterior before I started on the inside, but I found this cool old Toyota sign image from an ebay auction & it wasn't good enough to use so I made a vector one... even found the Toyota red RGB colors: R:216, G:30, B:5

[RiceBurner]

Coming together nicely, cool layout!

[Rebelspawn]

That takes some patience. Nice work so far indeed.

[paleblue46]

Coming along nice , cant wait to see it done

[DRW-FJ40]

Thanks guys!

Update. I've been painting the prefab windows. They really look good. I have two windows and an interior doorway though that I'm going to have to scratch build, big plate glass looking winders.

So, I made a frame from basswood, glued it into the opening:



Gooped it up with spackle:



Sand smooth:





And paint:

[DRW-FJ40]

After I got the interior walls of the store painted, I ripped 1/4" basswood strips for the floor.

[SoDak68]

Outstanding! I'm definitely watching this one.

[Ramination]

Originally Posted by DRW-FJ40

I'm not sure why, but that mofo right there startled me. Looking great, detail is top notch keep it up.

[DRW-FJ40]

Originally Posted by Ramination

I'm not sure why, but that mofo right there startled me. Looking great, detail is top notch keep it up.

Thanks! ... things got more startling as the night went on...

[Ramination]

Originally Posted by DRW-FJ40

Thanks! ... things got more startling as the night went on...

[pardonmyn00b]

I like dinosaurs.

[DRW-FJ40]

Originally Posted by pardonmyn00b

I like dinosaurs.

Team T-rex

[THX_138]

Most excellent work as always

Looks like you have the garage on a fast track to completion. Loving the attention to detail as always with your builds.

I'm going to have to send you a couple boxes of 30-30 rounds to get rid of that pesky moose... He ends up clomping around in every build you do. Time for some Moose steaks on the B-B-Q


Great work