Speeder Shed, scratch build (O scale)

by Bob Boudreau

I was out of the hobby for more than 20 years and, when I got back into modeling, one of the neat kits I assembled was an HO scale speeder shed by Durango Press. It had full interior framing and roof trusses and board by board siding. It was a very neat little project and I often posed some of my speeders and handcars with it in my photos.

I developed a way of getting extremely close to my models with my film camera, using a home made pinhole aperture for a wide angle manual lens.   In photography, the smaller the lens opening (f-stop), the greater depth of field. Normal lenses at the time stopped down to f/16, some to f/22, but my pinhole was around f/96 or so, extremely small! I could photograph model subjects almost touching the lens and still be in acceptable focus.   I had great success photographing the insides of some relatively large HO structures I scratchbuilt and decided to see what I could do with the diminutive speeder shed – it measured all of 1-3/4” deep and 2-1/2” wide.

I added some interior details and made a part of the rear wall removable so I could place the pinhole aperture equipped lens right up to the opening.

Now that I’m concentrating mostly on On30 – O scale models that operate on 30” wide track – I thought it would be neat to duplicate the speeder shed in O scale and see what photos I could take of its interior using my digital gear.   I measured the HO scale model and converted the dimensions to O scale, which is about twice as large (1:87 to 1:48).   I drew full sized O scale plans with a small CAD program on my computer and printed them to use as templates for the model.

I happened to have a bunch of O scale 2” by 4” stripwood on hand which I stained a light gray color using India ink in alcohol.

I covered the plans with waxed paper so glued parts would not stick to the plans. I then cut the stained wood to fit on the plan. Some of the outer framing was lightly glued to the waxed paper to keep in place.

I made a small jig for the roof trusses over the plan on waxed paper and made them all the same this way.

After each wall section was completed and the glue was dry, I slid a single edge razor blade under the wood to cut it free of the waxed paper.

I made the floor of the shed using some square stripwood as a bottom, and covered it with coffee stirrer sticks which I had previously stained.   I was quite amazed at the amount of scale 2” by 4” lumber I used in the framing of the walls and was glad to have the stirrer sticks available for the rest of the structure. Still thinking in HO scale I guess! With the floor together, I glued three of the walls onto it, with only a top and bottom piece left for the removable rear wall.

Since I wanted to keep the roof removable for arranging details and such, I assembled the trusses into a separate unit.

The model with all of the framing in place. Originally I did the plans with one window at one end, but changed the partially completed other wall to accommodate one as well, to allow more light inside for photography. The windows in the model are all by Grandt Line.

I again used coffee stirrer sticks (package of 200 at a local dollar store) to enclose the walls of the shed. I pre-stained them with some diluted Floquil Box Car Red, and cut them with my NWSL Chopper II. You can see some of the uncut sticks in the photo, showing some warping. Since there are so many, its best to stain more than you think you’ll need so you can pick out the better ones to use.

I covered the removable rear wall with the stir sticks too, and made it so it would fit in tightly between the upper and lower framing pieces.   The upper piece also supports the trusses on that side.

I wanted some thin material for the base of the roof, but did not want to use cardboard, fearing it would warp with the roof covering in place. Our local hobby shop and area craft shops no longer carry the thin hobby plywood sheets that I had seen in the past, so I was stumped as to what to use for a while. While checking out a local dollar store for something else, I came across some unpainted wood boxes with framed tops. The tops and bottoms were made of very thin plywood, so I bought one and was able to remove the plywood for use on my model.   It worked fine and was probably a whole lot cheaper than hobby plywood too. I shaved off the sills of four Grandt Line windows for use as skylights on the roof. I used two per side to allow more light into the model for photography. These were fitted into holes cut into the thin plywood.

I arrived at this point not having any idea what I was going to use for roofing on the model. I did have some Campbell corrugated aluminum roofing material in HO, but thought it might look out of scale and would probably need to use up much of my stock to cover the O scale roof. I had a sheet of Paper Creek HO scale roofing with a simulated rusted corrugated metal look. Again, probably too small for O scale, so I improvised. I scanned the sheet and enlarged the panels to be closer to O scale and printed off a sheet for the roof.   These rusty panels come with worn and wavy edges, which I cut out and then colored the edges with rust colored pastel pencils. A lot better than leaving the edges white from the paper!

I made the sliding door from stained stripwood and an overhead track from several pieces of interlocking Plastruct shapes.

There was a gap left at the bottom of the Plastruct track, and I inserted small pins into the top of the door so their heads would fit into the gap. This gave me an operating sliding door for the model.

I took some HO scale rail and made a small section of track leading into the speeder shed, sitting on larger wood ties.   The tops of the ties were covered with stripwood to allow the rail workers to push their rail vehicles inside the shed. This is not glued to the shed, allowing it to be removed for photography and display.   Since there was to be a stove inside the structure, I made a smoke jack from styrene sprue and the top from a piece of brass tubing. It comes out the side of the building, and not the roof as in the HO scale model, as I wanted to have the roof removable.

The completed O scale speeder shed beside the HO scale Grandt Line model. The O scale model is 3-3/4” by 4-3/4”.

I added details to the inside of the shed, using a Rusty Rails cast resin workbench that I cut in two, placing one section against the front and rear walls. The part on the rear wall is glued onto the wall so it would not be in the way for photography. The stove was salvaged from a Bachmann On30 passenger car, and other details came from my collection – a broom, shovels, speeder wheels, piled paint cans, etc. I made a small coal box for the stove from stripwood and affixed various posters, signs, thermometers and such to the walls. The rear wall is held in place with two pins in the side walls, these can be seen in the photo.

The photographic results with the rear wall removed.   My original 28mm lens with the pinhole aperture used in my film days is not suitable with my digital camera. So I use an extreme wide angle zoom lens – a Tamron 11-18mm model. At 11mm it will focus extremely close, especially when using it at its smallest aperture of f/22. The velocipede is a model by Wiseman Model Services.

I replaced the rear wall and took this shot through the open front door.

I do have a speeder in O scale, a large Grand Line crew model as shown in this photo. But it is fairly large and dwarfs the inside and opening, so I used the smaller velocipede for my photos. I do have a smaller speeder by Berkshire Valley Models on order, and will place it in the model when it is ready.

Showing how I took the interior photos. The photo lights were almost overhead to shine into the skylights, so the front of the lens needed to be shaded with a piece of cardboard. The bright light also shone in the entrance, so another piece of cardboard is shielding it as well. The removed rear wall can be seen off to the side.